The Nightmare Before Hogwarts
by USA Tiger
Summary: On the routine scare for Halloween, the Creature Under the Stairs accidently comes across Harry Potter and leaves the door back to Halloween Town open. Harry follows the Halloween monster back, changing his life forever.
1. Chapter 1

**The Nightmare Before Hogwarts**

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Author Notes: In celebration of my favorite holiday ever, I decided to write on a little idea I've had for years for mainly a crossover between TNBC and Harry Potter with a little CB and Beetlejuice thrown into the mix. I am still working on my other fics, some are pretty close to updates, everything has been slow due to life (I've been working a lot of extra days at work which tires me out), and managing other projects I've got going on. I plan on keeping the chapters very short for this fic, writing on it between the others and hope to get the short chapters out quickly for the holiday. It's mostly for fun and will be a bit cracky and crazy at times but I hope you guys will think it's entertaining nonetheless.

Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.

Chapter 1

Harry sniffed softly as he huddled in the cupboard under the stairs of his aunt's house, which doubled as his meager bedroom. He was alone in the house, as his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had taken their son Dudley trick-or-treating. Usually they would leave Harry at Mrs. Figg's house, an older woman who would watch Harry during occasions like this. But not tonight, someone had hurt one of her many cats, one that had solid black fur, and she had been unavailable as she took the feline to the vet.

Harry had hoped that maybe he would be allowed to join his family trick-or-treating, he had never gone before and he had always been fascinated by it. He didn't even need to keep the treats, Dudley could have them all, Harry just wanted to experience going trick-or-treating once. Uncle Vernon had laughed in his face at even hesitantly suggesting the idea, informing the tiny five year old that only _normal_ _good_ children got to go trick-or-treating and Harry was just a freak.

The five-year-old boy rubbed his arm where Vernon had gripped him tightly when the walrus of a man had dragged Harry to his cupboard then tossed him in, locking the door tight. Afterward the Dursleys had left, leaving Harry all alone in the house. He sniffed again, he didn't know why he was such a freak. He tried to be normal and good, but things just kept happening to him, strange things that he couldn't even begin to understand, much less explain.

Harry leaned back against the wall of the cupboard with a sigh, he could be in here for hours. He wished his aunt and uncle had let him use the loo before locking him in for the night. His head tilted back looking up at the shadowed corners where spiders had built their little webs. In a way the spiders were his only friends, he like to imagine they could talk and would have whole conversations with him. He never had any of the conversations out loud of course that would just get him into trouble, but it helped passed the time in his head.

"I wonder if spiders go trick-or-treating," Harry mused then gave a sad little laugh followed by a sigh, his head hitting the wall with a THUNK sound. He sat there quietly, he hated being alone in the house and worried about something happening. What would he do if he couldn't get out of the cupboard? Harry bit his lip and drew his legs up to his chest, shivering slightly as fear raced through him. He wished dearly he had his mum or dad here to comfort him like other kids did, then he remembered that his mum and dad were dead killed in a car crash… at least according to his aunt and uncle.

That was when Harry heard the strange noise. It was faint at first yet seem to get louder as the seconds passed. Perplexed, he peered around his cupboard trying to find the source, even looking out the slats on the door into the hallway. It sounds like… squeaky wheels? That was… odd… Harry couldn't find where the sound was coming from. The telly wasn't on seeing as Dudley wasn't home at the moment, and Harry was alone in the house and he certainly wasn't making the sound.

He pressed his fingers to his mouth and scooted back against the wall again then realized the sound was coming from _behind_ him, on the other side of the wall. His green eyes widened in fight and Harry quickly moved back against the cupboard door, staring at the wall as the sound got louder and louder and louder until… it stopped. Harry's tiny body shook in fright and how he wished he was at Mrs. Figg's right at that moment.

The quiet dragged on for a moment. Harry began to wonder if his mind had been playing tricks on him. And then… the wall of the cupboard swung inward like a door into what appeared to be a pitch black tunnel. And something emerged from the shadows into the light that shone from the bare bulb that hung at the top of the cupboard; the illuminated being caused Harry's breath to catch in his throat.

The… thing… that leaned out of the shadows was huge, taking up the whole space in the newly opened wall. It had a large black torso with a small waist, and long thick arms with long fingers that seemed to move. Harry then realized that the fingers were snakes, black and white striped snakes that hissed and snapped with sharp fangs as they withered around. The creature's neck was long, striped black and white like the snake-fingers, with a long white, almost reptilian face. Its mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth, highlighted by bright red lips and on top of its head was a spider, its long legs dangling as if it was the creature's hair.

Large yellow eyes stared at Harry in surprise, as if the creature hadn't expected anyone to be there. Harry stared back, his own green eyes wide before taking a deep breath and letting out a blood curdling scream of horror.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"AAAAAHHHH!" the creature screamed in return, voice deep, failing in surprise and knocking a few of Harry's belongings; beat-up books and broken toy soldiers that Harry had rescued from the trash from the nearby makeshift shelves. As soon as it finished screaming, the creature retreated into the shadows and the wall swung shut.

Harry panted in fright, his small chest heaving as he stared at the wall where the creature had been a few seconds before. The bare bulb swung side to side, casting wild shadows in the small space. Slowly, the swaying of the bulb slowed along with Harry's heart-rate. And as he calmed from his fright… a grin spread out over his face.

 _That_ had been the most exciting thing that happened to him _ever!_ The fear that thing gave him had been such a rush, so different from the fear he experienced with his relatives. Somehow, deep down, Harry knew he hadn't been in any real danger. He was curious now, what was that thing? Was that all real?

Harry slowly crawled over to the wall and studied it, how had it opened like a door? His observations soon showed that the wall hadn't closed all the way. One of his toy soldiers that the creature had knocked down had gotten caught between the edge of the wall-door, keeping it slightly open.

Harry licked his lips and then slowly pressed on the wall, gasping as it swung open like a door once more. He peered into the darkness but could see nothing down the mysterious tunnel. Biting his lip, Harry turned and pulled back his thin mattress, exposing a space under the shelves where he kept emergency food, extra socks, and a torch in case his light bulb went out Uncle Vernon always took time to replace it leaving Harry sitting in the dark, so he had 'borrowed' one of Dudley's torches and stashed it in the cupboard the last time he cleaned his cousin's room. It was sad that Harry had to learn to do these sorts of things so young, but his cousin had so many possessions already that nobody would ever notice something like that was missing.

Harry fiddled with the button and then winced as it shone brightly in his eyes; he quickly pointed it away and blinked away the bright spots dancing before his eyes. Once he could see properly again, Harry refocused on the dark, gloomy tunnel. The flashlight revealed that the walls and floor appeared to be dirt, and he could see what looked like tracks that had to have come from the monster.

The young boy was quite confused as to how there was a tunnel leading to his cupboard, he was sure that on the other side of the wall was the kitchen. Maybe he was wrong somehow? Where did this tunnel lead? And did Harry dare go down it?

He was curious, very curious, but scared at the same time; the monster was more than likely still in there somewhere in the darkness. A monster that ran from Harry instead of eating him… didn't monsters eat little children? That was what Dudley always claimed, that monsters eat little freaks. Yet it hadn't eaten him, it just ran off. Did he dare chance it?

Harry looked around his cupboard. His small, boring cupboard that had nothing except a few worn books and broken toys. He never got to do anything fun… and this could be fun… and he could keep the strange wall-door open, if he heard the monster he could just run back and close the door! It couldn't hurt just to take a peek….

Decision made, Harry crawled into the tunnel, not noticing as he did so that he knocked the broken toy soldier out of the way with the edge of his baggy hand-me-down pants, then stood up once inside. The tunnel was just tall enough, and Harry small enough, for him to stand at his full height. And he supposed it had to be tall to fit that huge monster inside of it. Harry glanced back into his cupboard, made sure the door was still open, then took a deep breath and slowly started walking down the tunnel, keeping his ears and eyes open for the creature. The light from the torch only lit a few feet in front of Harry, the darkness swallowing up his path behind him as he walked and turned a corner.

A gust of chilly wind blew past him, carrying fallen autumn leaves on the breeze. Harry shivered briefly but continued undeterred. Behind him, however, the wind caught the piece of wall that had opened like a door and closed it, sealing away the tunnel. All that was left where Harry had once been were a couple of fallen leaves in bright colors of red and yellow. And everything in the tiny cupboard under the stairs in Number 4 Privet Drive was still and quiet once more.

* * *

Thoughts? Critiques? Possible suggestions on what might happen? Just leave it all in the comments!


	2. Chapter 2

The Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Author Notes: I'm thrilled by how many people are interested in this story. I don't know if I will be able to update this everyday but I will try to since they're very short chapters.

Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.

Chapter 2

The walk down the tunnel was a bit long, filled with many twists and turns. It was also a bit dull, the walls never really changed and the darkness both ahead of and behind Harry soon lost its scariness. Yet something in Harry kept wanting to push on, unwilling to just return to his cupboard and forget the whole thing.

Every now and then, Harry heard sounds from ahead, which had him turning the torch off and hiding with bated breath in the darkness, wondering if it was the monster that had started the whole thing or maybe some other creatures that may jump out and attack him. But Harry never saw any monsters or anything else, maybe a few worms in the dirt and a few spiders crawling along the wall but those things never bothered Harry.

He only took one break while in the tunnel, finally giving into the urge to use the bathroom and hoping it would go unnoticed. He wondered how much further he had to go… was it nothing but dirt and shadows? Harry was starting to doubt it would change and started considering turning around, maybe he could get back before the Dursleys discovered he had gone. Then he nearly tripped over a stone in the path. Harry stumbled and caught himself on the wall, shining his light around. The dirt tunnel had finally ended, transitioning into one made of stone and brick, all colored dark shades of gray and black.

Harry heard something ahead again and quickly turned off the flashlight, keeping one hand on the wall to guide him as he carefully walked, peering around a corner to see a patch of moonlight appear; the creature from before was there, it had opened up a door above it and was heaving itself out. Harry heard it move away, it hadn't closed the door behind it. His curiosity overpowering his fear, Harry snuck up and pulled himself up to peer out.

He was in a graveyard, filled to the brim with tombstones, iron fences, and dead plants. In the moonlight, Harry could see the monster that had been in his cupboard under the stairs more clearly, and he saw that the thing didn't seem to have any legs. Instead, its skinny waist was sitting on a board with wheels, one of which squeaked as the creatures rolled its way out of the graveyard. That had been the sound Harry had heard earlier that night.

Harry carefully looked around to make sure he was alone, and then pulled himself out of the tunnel. As he did so, he found that the stone doors were a part of a massive and macabre grave marker, a stone monument of a skeleton riding a rearing horse.

"Wow…" the boy whispered as he crept further into the graveyard. He had never been in one before, but he had seen the graveyard outside of the church he and his aunt passed whenever they went into town to do some shopping. Those graves, Harry remembered, were in neat little rows and with the exception of a few crosses and angels were more or less the same shape.

 _This_ graveyard, on the other hand, was messy looking. The graves were all different, crooked or crumbling to pieces. Harry saw several stone statues of faces that were wailing in despair or screaming in fear, statues of strange monstrous creatures, or of animals. Ahead of him was a hill that curled up into a spiral; Harry headed toward it, climbed to the top, and gasped as he got a good look around him.

He could see a small town nearby, filled with dark, crooked buildings. He could see pumpkins carved into jack-o-lanterns everywhere, and a huge dark forest sitting on the other side of the graveyard. Even farther in the distance, he could see a huge lone tree that seemed to have some sort of building built into it. It was creepy and utterly fascinating.

"Ruff ruff!" Harry jumped at the barking and turned around fearfully, he didn't have good experiences with dogs thanks to his Aunt Marge who raised scary bulldogs. But Harry's fear quickly turned to wonder, as it wasn't some big, vicious dog like Harry feared. It was a small white dog that looked like a glowing white sheet floating above the ground, and its nose looked like a tiny jack-o-lantern that glowed brightly. The ghost dog tilted its head to the side as it watched Harry.

"Umm… good doggy?" Harry whispered as he held his hand out hesitantly, did ghost dogs still bite and if they did, did it hurt? The boy's worries melted away as the ghost dog sniffed his hand and then barked happily, reaching up into his touch. Harry giggled as his fingers went through the dog's head, it felt like he was touching cool smoke, but still made the motions of petting. "You're a good doggy, aren't you."

The ghost dog barked and did a backflip making Harry giggle again. He noticed the bright red collar around the dog's neck and leaned down to read it.

"Z-z-ze-zero," Harry sounded out grinning as the dog ruffed happily. "Your name is Zero?"

"Ruff ruff!" Zero flipped again happily then turned and floated off in a hurry.

"Where are you going?" Harry asked, barely finishing his question before Zero came back with a stick that he dropped at Harry's feet. The boy picked it up, looking between it and Zero in confusion, he had never played fetch before so didn't understand. Zero looked at the stick then turned to look out over the graveyard then back at Harry, who still didn't understand.

"Ruff ruff!" Zero took the stick and tossed his head to the side, letting the stick fly then retrieved it bringing it back to Harry.

"Oh! You want me to throw it?" Harry asked. Zero barked, and Harry was sure he would be wagging his tail if he still had one. The tip of Harry's tongue stuck out as he tossed the stick down the hill. It didn't go far, Harry didn't have very good arm strength, but Zero barked happily and went after the stick, bringing it back to Harry. Harry giggled and happily played fetch with Zero for several minutes until he was caught off guard by a yawn, his hand coming up to cover his mouth.

"Ruff?" Zero barked as Harry shook his head and didn't take the stick back.

"Sorry Zero, I think I need to get home," he said as he rubbed his eye sleepily. (1)

Zero whined softly but didn't stop Harry as the boy headed back into the graveyard trying to find the stone door that lead back to the tunnel, following along after his new friend. But as Harry searched, he couldn't find the statue. He wasn't even sure what the statue had been. A horse, he thought? But there were many statues in the graveyard with horses on them.

"Oh, no…" Harry whispered as he looked around in fear, this time the feeling came from what his aunt and uncle would do when they discovered he wasn't in his cupboard. How was he going to get home? "Oh no, oh no, Zero I can't find where I came out at." Fear and adrenaline helped to wake Harry back up. "How am I going to get home?"

Zero whined and nuzzled Harry then took the end of the baggy sleeve of Harry's shirt and started tugging him toward the town.

"Zero, what are you doing?" Harry asked as he tried to stop the ghost dog.

"Ruff," Zero tugged again and got Harry to follow him. It became quickly became clear that Zero was leading him toward the town with the crooked houses they passed a sign that said 'Halloween Town' along the path. Harry hadn't seen the monster that he had followed, but he knew that it had been heading in this direction. Was this… a town full of monsters?

"Zero…" Harry whined as he tried to get the ghost pup to stop again but Zero was determined to get Harry to his master; Jack and Sally would be able to help, he was sure.

They came to an iron gate, the bars rusted and bent out of shape. Zero easily floated through the bars while Harry climbed through a gap with no trouble at all. Now that they were inside the town, Harry could hear music, which sounded dark and eerie yet at the same time upbeat and happy. As they neared the center of the town and the paradoxical music grew louder, Harry hid behind a stack of wooden crates and peered out.

The town was indeed filled to the brim with monsters, but being only 5, that was the most Harry could determine, having no exposure to many of the popular monsters that symbolized Halloween. Harry could see the monster that had frightened him under the stairs, standing next to a fountain that spewed green water. It was talking to a monster that looked like a man that was melting, a little short man wearing a trench coat and a tall hat, and what looked like a doggy man.

Harry looked around for Zero who had left him in the alleyway and quickly spotted the ghost dog as he floated up to a tall figure in the middle of the party. Harry gasped softly and hunkered down further into the shadows.

It was a tall, skinny skeleton wearing a black pinstriped suit and a bow tie in the shape of a large black bat. He was talking to a pretty lady with red hair who looked like she was stitched together and was wearing a dress made out of scraps of different cloths. Another figure was talking to him too, a short round man wearing a very tall top hat who had two faces, one happy looking and the other stark white with a sad face, which faced the back of his body. Luckily, the second face looked like it was asleep so it couldn't see Harry from where the boy hid.

Zero barked happily as he floated up to the skeleton man who greeted him with a wide smile— skeletons can smile?—as he reached down to pet the ghostly pooch.

* * *

(1) I don't think we're ever told just when Harry got his glasses so let's just say that for right now he doesn't have any.


	3. Chapter 3

The Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Author Notes: Sorry, I meant to try to post a little chapter each day but I face planted on my bed yesterday after work and didn't get up until my alarm went off so I never got on my computer.

Three things I want to cover before this chapter:

1: just to clear up where on the timeline this falls, Harry Potter side it's obvious but NMBC side, the start of this fic falls after both the movie and the game Oogie's Revenge that came after it but before Jack and Sally have their 4 or 5 skeleton children. So the other holidays are known to each other now.

2: I forgot to mention I have a twitter account you can follow usa_tiger1983 where I post updates and fic recs.

Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.

Chapter 3

Another Halloween had come and gone and Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King and patron spirit of the holiday, thought it had been one of their most horrible yet! He looked around the town square as the other citizens enjoyed the Halloween after party, many exchanging stories of what they had done. The vampire brothers discussed how the blood of various people they had attacked tasted, the Creature under the Stairs was telling some story to the Melting Man and Wolfman with wild gestures, and the Harlequin Demon boasted how he had scared a group of kids that had been trick-o-treating. Speaking of trick-o-treaters, Jack had seen Lock, Shock, and Barrel heading for their tree house with bags bulging with candy.

"Jack," Jack turned and smiled as Sally joined him.

"Sally," he said as he wrapped one arm around the Ragdoll, "this was our most gruesome Halloween yet."

"That it was, Jack my boy," the Mayor of Halloween Town said as he joined the couple. "We'll really have to step it up next year."

"Don't worry, Mayor, we have a whole year," Jack said. "I still have some ideas floating in my skull." He tapped the side of his head with a boney finger as he said this, and Sally just hoped that meant Jack wouldn't leave to go find new ideas. They were on good terms with Sandy Claws now and somewhat good terms with the other holidays, no reason to start all that again.

"Ruff ruff!" A smile spread on Jack's face as he turned toward the sound of the barking, reaching down to pet his loyal ghostly pooch Zero.

"Zero! There you are, boy," Jack said. Zero barked and then looked back the way he had come. The dog frowned; Harry wasn't behind him. Where had the little boy gone?

"Something the matter?" Jack asked.

"Ruff!" Zero barked to his master then floated over to the alleyway, finding Harry hiding behind some crates. He whined and tilted his head to the side.

"I can't go out there, Zero, those monsters will eat me," Harry whispered.

"Ruff?" Zero gave a confused bark, monster didn't eat people…. except Oogie Boogie but he didn't count.

"Zero?" Jack called, leaving Sally's side to see what had caught Zero's attention. He wondered if Lock, Shock, and Barrel had returned to the town and were planning some sort of trick. Zero ignored Jack as he caught Harry's sleeve in his mouth and tugged at the boy.

"No!" Harry yelped as he tried to pull back only to be caught off balance and stumble out, right into Jack's legs. By now the music had stopped and everyone was watching what was going on.

Jack's eye sockets widened in surprise as a tiny human crashed into his legs, his smile widening as the child looked up at him wide green eyes the same shade as poison.

"Why, hello there," Jack said. "Where did you come from?"

Harry trembled in fight, his screams caught in his throat. Jack's words seem to jolt the rest of the monsters out of their shock as they came closer.

"Where did this human come from?"  
"Are there more of them?"  
"Are we sure it's a human? It looks like a skeleton with skin."  
"That's it! That's the human I was talking about!" The last one was from the Creature under the Stairs. Harry didn't really register any of the questions, only seeing himself surrounded by monsters on all sides yet none of the citizens of Halloween Town noticed Harry's mounting panic. None except Zero, who started barking at the other monsters to get them to back off, and Sally who saw the panic on Harry's face and made her way toward him through the crowd as fast as she could.

"AAAHHHHHHH!" The scream finally tore from Harry's throat as he drew in on himself, raising his arms to protect himself and unknowingly tapping into his magical core to push everyone away from him with a burst of accidental magic. Jack gaped as he stumbled back then caught his balance, his face lighting up.

"What an interesting tiny human!" he said. Above the crowd, the witches shared looks of surprises and glee.

"It's a little witch!" the tall witch Helgamine cackled.

"Think of all the spells we'll teach her… or him," the short witch Zeldaborne agreed. Meanwhile Sally finally fought her way through the crowd and knelt by Harry's side. (1)

"It's all right, little one," she said soothingly, reaching out to gently brush Harry's hair back. Harry flinched at first then shyly peeked out from behind his arms, seeing the pretty red-headed woman from before. "No one is going to hurt you here. Do you want to come with me away from the crowd?"

"Y-Yes?" he said unsurely, looking around in fright. He noticed that none of the monsters were moving to eat him; in fact, the tall skeleton seem realize he needed room and got some of them to back up. Sally took Harry's hand and helped him to stand, keeping a hold of his hand as she guided him through the crowd, Zero on his other side.

"A human, Jack!" The Mayor said as he came up to Jack's side, his head turned around to his 'worried' face. The others may have been in wonderment over this but the Mayor just saw a political disaster waiting to happen. "Where did it come from? We can't have a human here, it could ruin my career!"

Jack sighed—sometimes the Mayor could get on his nerves—then looked down at the shorter monster. "I'm sure it will be fine, Mayor, Sally will look after it. I like the little human myself." The Mayor still looked unconvinced.

"That wasn't just some mere human," Helgamine said as she and Zeldaborne landed. "That little trick it pulled was magic."

"It's a witch!" Zeldaborne added. Jack grinned widely at the news.

"See, Mayor, a little witch fits in just fine," he said patting the Mayor's shoulder. "No need to worry." The Mayor considered that for a moment, Jack was right of course. The Pumpkin King always was. His head turned back around to his happy side.

"Of course, how silly of me," he said, relaxed now. "Why wouldn't we welcome another witch?" Jack chuckled and looked toward his home where Sally had taken Harry. The other monsters of Halloween Town had drifted back to their previous activities, the zombie band had started up playing again, and all were talking about the exciting moment they all just had with the strange little human.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sally had led Harry out of the town square, Zero following close behind. While Jack remained behind for a bit to run crowd control, the most sensible of Halloween Town's citizens had led Harry to a more private location: Jack's house. At least for the rest of the night, they could rely on nobody bothering them there.

"My name is Sally," she said once she had Harry seated in one of the tall wire back chairs. "What's your name?

" 'm Harry," Harry responded as he looked around; now that he was safely away from the other monsters his curious side came back out. The house, like everything else, was dark and twisted looking. Zero was floating at his feet, his bright nose giving light and comfort to Harry. Sally pulled another chair closer so she could sit next to Harry.

"How did you get here, Harry?" Sally asked.

"I-I followed that big monster… the one with snake fingers," Harry admitted. "It appeared in my cupboard."

"Your cupboard?" Sally asked.

"Yeah… that's where I sleep," Harry explained. "At my aunt and uncle's house. I… I'm not in trouble am I?"

"No," Sally quickly assured him, taking his small hands in her dainty ones. "Where are your parents?"

"They died when I was a baby," Harry said with a shrug of his shoulders. "That's why I live with Aunt Petunia… she's gonna be so angry when she finds out I left. Those… those monsters aren't going to eat me are they?"

"No, why would you think that?" Sally asked.

"Dudley said monsters eats little freaks like me," Harry said softly.

"No one here will eat you, they're all nice monsters," Sally explained. "We're Halloween monsters, it's our job to scare people on Halloween but we don't hurt them. You likely scared the Creature under the stairs as much as he scared you."

Harry giggled as he remembered the monster screaming.

"Maybe… he did scream really loud…" he agreed.

"Sally, Zero!" Jack's voice called, accompanied by the sound of the front door opening and closing followed by footsteps heading their way. Harry looked worriedly at Sally who smiled.

"That's just Jack," she said. "He's the Pumpkin King." Harry's eyes widened at that and he looked up at Jack as the tall skeleton entered the room. Zero barked happily but didn't move from his spot.

"Here's our new little friend," Jack said as he kneeled down in front of Harry, which meant Harry had his crane his neck back as Jack still towered over him.

"A-are you really a king? Like the Queen of England?" Harry asked shyly. Jack chuckled and patted Harry's hair.

"It's a title, I'm in charge of Halloween, like Sandy Claws is in charge of Christmas," Jack explained. Harry gasped softly.

"Santa is real too?" he whispered.

"That he is," Jack agreed. "He has a very exciting holiday, I'll have you know." His smile widened a bit. "Well, you caused quite a ruckus in the town."

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause trouble," Harry said ducking his head.

"Nonsense! This is the most exciting thing we've had in a couple of years," Jack said standing up.

"Jack," Sally stood and placed her hand on his chest. "We've got to decide what to do with Harry."

"Why, they're staying here with us, of course!" Jack said having already decided to keep Harry.

* * *

(1) According to some Nightmare Before Christmas trading cards, this is what the witches names are. Also, the Corpse family names are Ned, Bertha, and Ethan; the zombie band's names are Jim, Jimmy and James (I'm getting an Ed, Edd and Eddy vibe here); and the Vampire brothers are called Prince, Baron, Lord, and Count, but those are more along the lines of titles than names.


	4. Chapter 4

The Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.

Chapter 4

"Stay here?" Harry repeated. Then he squeaked in surprise as Jack easily picked him up, holding him up with one skinny boney arm while the other wildly gestured. Harry clung to Jack as the Pumpkin King was very tall and he was very small and very far from the ground right now.

"Of course!" Jack said. "You'll love it here. Helgamine and Zeldaborne agreed to teach you spells and the other children will show you all the best places to jump out and scare people!"

"Jack, I…" Sally started to protest but the words died in her throat as her heart and mind warred against each other. What she reasoned typically harmonized with what she felt, but this time, while the rational side of Sally knew they should find a way to send Harry home, something deep in Sally's gut said that that was the wrong to do.

Sally was no expert on human children and had never claimed to be. She knew no more about them than anyone else in the town, maybe even less since she didn't join in scaring humans. But she didn't think humans were supposed to be skin and bones like Harry was. She could also see cuts and bruises on his arms, and his clothing was in such bad shape that no one in Halloween Town would wear them, not even the corpse family, and they were much too big on Harry to boot!

And then there was the comment Harry made about the cupboard… Sally bit her bottom lip in worry. Something wasn't right, and that feeling was so strong that she couldn't bring herself to disagree with Jack about having Harry live in Halloween Town…but at the same time, she was sure they weren't the ones to try to raise him either.

She refocused on the others in the room; Jack was still telling Harry everything about Halloween Town, and Harry was listening intently, his eyes wide in shock, but also curiosity and even a little excitement. But as he yawned widely, one hand over his mouth, she could see how tired he was. Little children weren't meant to stay up this late, she knew that much. This she could fix right now.

"Jack… maybe you should slow down for now," Sally said as she plucked Harry from Jack's arms. "I think he needs sleep more than he needs to hear your plans."

Jack paused and took a good look at the tiny human. He saw immediately that Sally was right; the tiny human _did_ look tired and there would be plenty of time later to introduce Harry to his new home.

"Put him in my bed then," Jack nodded.

Harry laid his head on Sally's shoulder as he was carried up a creaky spiral staircase and over to a black wire frame bed. Harry's first thought was that the mattress was much softer than his thin one back in the cupboard. Zero curled up in his doggy bed by Jack's bed, keeping watch over the tiny human as he drifted to sleep. Jack lit a fire going in the fireplace to keep Harry warm then followed Sally back downstairs.

As Harry's eyes closed, he suddenly wondered if this was all just a strange dream.

"Jack, I don't think you will be able to keep Harry," Sally said her arms crossed over her chest, hugging herself.

"Nonsense, Harry will fit in just fine. He's a little witch, there's no reason why he shouldn't stay," Jack said waving off her concerns. "Hmm… I wonder if male witches are still called witches?"

"He's still a human, Jack!" Sally said. "What do we feed him? What do little human children need? I don't think you thought this through; you're not equipped to raise a human. I don't think any of us in the town are."

Jack gave a little sigh, he had promised himself he would listen more to Sally's advise, the beautiful ragdoll always seem to have more sense than others.

"You don't really want to send him back, do you?" Jack said. Sally gave a sigh of her own and sat down, her chin resting in her hands.

"That's just it, Jack, I don't think he should be sent back to his relatives… I got an awful feeling when he talked about them. He seemed scared of his aunt and uncle. And he's so small and skinny, I don't think humans are supposed to look like that."

Then a thought popped into Sally's head. While not all, a good portion of the citizens of Halloween Town had been humans once, Jack included. It had been a very long time ago, so long that she didn't know of any that remembered their human lives. Sally wasn't included in this as she was a creation of Dr. Finkelstein, the town's mad scientist, so she had been 'born' in Halloween Town. But considering that…

"Jack, what about his parents?" Sally asked.

"What do you mean, Sally?" Jack asked in confusion.

"Harry told me his parents are dead," Sally explained. "Do you think maybe they can be brought here? If anyone knows what Harry needs, it should be them, shouldn't it?" Jack blinked his eye sockets then grinned widely.

"What an excellent idea, Sally!" Jack said as he turned to head out the door. "I bet Grim can take me to the Land of the Dead."

"Jack!" Sally stood up and snagged his arm. Jack stopped and looked at her confused making Sally laugh softly. "Don't you think you should wait? You don't even know what his parents' names are."

"You have a point," Jack agreed. "It can wait until tomorrow then."

* * *

Meanwhile in the human world, Vernon and Petunia Dursley returned home with Dudley.

"Head upstairs, Popkins, and take off your costume," Petunia said.

"I want to wear it to bed," Dudley protested as he clutched his bag of candy close to his chest. Petunia sighed then smile.

"Alright, Dudders," she cooed as she soothed back his hair. "You can wear it just for tonight. But you still need to head up to bed. You have school tomorrow." Dudley didn't argue further with his mother; all of that walking had tired him out, after all. He headed up the stairs, stopping in the middle to jump a couple of times and knock dust and maybe some spiders onto his freak of a cousin. Neither of his parents scolded or stopped him from doing this, and Dudley grinned at any misery he could give his cousin. He couldn't wait to gloat about how much candy he got and how Harry wouldn't get any!

Neither Vernon nor Petunia paid any attention to the cupboard under the stairs as they went about their night, as far as they were concerned the boy was locked away and wouldn't cause any trouble. When they went to sleep that night they were perfectly at ease.

The next morning, Petunia woke before her husband and son, something she did every morning. She rose from her bed, entered the bathroom and took her morning shower. Afterward she got ready for the day, dressing in her simple, normal, yet smart-looking dress, applied a bit of makeup, and then headed downstairs to the kitchen.

She began to prepare breakfast for her beloved family, Dudley needed a large breakfast to grow into a strapping young man and Vernon would soon be down for his morning cup of coffee. After a few minutes, Petunia left pan on the stove heating up so she could go out into the entryway and unlock the cupboard door.

"Up, boy," she said as she knocked against the door. "You're to watch the bacon." Petunia trusted her nephew to join her soon as she re-entered the kitchen. But after a few minutes Harry hadn't appeared and Petunia frowned in anger.

"Boy!" Petunia snapped, stepping back out into the entryway and seeing the door on the cupboard still closed.

"What's the matter Pet?" Vernon asked as he came down the stairs, his hands working on tying his tie.

"That lazy boy," Petunia said as she stomped over to the cupboard, grabbing the handle and yanking the door open. Behind her Vernon's face reddened in anger, and then paled as Petunia gasped.

"Vernon, he's gone!"


	5. Chapter 5

The Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.

Author Note: This chapter we have a cameo from a certain Jamaican accented reaper. Grim from _The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy_ is my favorite version of the Reaper. So added Disclaimer: _The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy_ belongs to Maxwell Atoms and Cartoon Network.

Chapter 5

Harry gave a little sigh as he slowly woke up the next morning, not opening his eyes just yet. He had the most wonderful—if strangest—dream last night. He wasn't sure when he fell asleep but he had dreamt that a monster, an honest real monster, had appeared in his cupboard last night and he had followed it back to a place where monsters lived. It had a crooked graveyard and a lot of carved pumpkins and he had met a ghost doggy! And there had been a really pretty stitched up lady and a tall skeleton that said he was going to live with them from now on.

But Harry knew that was silly, monsters weren't real and he couldn't just end up in another place like magic. He gave a little huff and wondered when Aunt Petunia was going to get up and let him out of the cupboard… it sure did seem bright inside his cupboard, he must have fallen asleep with his light on. He also wondered why his bed felt more comfortable than usual…

"Ruff?"

A frown marred Harry's face; Aunt Marge wasn't visiting with her mean bulldog so why was he hearing a dog? And it sounded so close… Harry opened his eyes, and he saw Zero right next to his face, the bright end of his nose shining into Harry's eyes. Giving a surprised yelp, Harry pulled back quickly only to fall off the bed onto the floor tangled in the blankets.

Zero leaned over the edge of the bed, looking down at Harry as the tiny boy untangled himself and then looked around, his green eyes wide.

"It was real?" he whispered to himself taking in the room. It was large, bigger than the living room at his relatives' house, and round-looking. The walls had large windows looking outside where the sunlight streamed in, which Harry thought was a little odd as one would assume a world of monsters would always be nighttime. There were bookshelves with different books and knick-knacks on one wall, a large desk with a tall-backed chair. Harry saw a fireplace behind the bed he had fallen out of, dying embers glowing faintly in the grate. There was also a weird chair with some sort of metal dome on top and a large switch on the other side of the room.

"Harry?" the nice lady from last night's voice called. Harry turning to see Sally coming up a spiral staircase in the middle of the room. "Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?"

"No, Miss," Harry said as he finally freed himself from the blankets and stood. "It's all real… I thought last night was a dream."

"I see," Sally smiled and then held out her hand. "I made you breakfast, come down to eat." Harry's stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten since… he had to think for a moment then realized he hadn't eaten since the morning before. Dudley had stolen what little lunch he had and he never got dinner.

"Okay… but… umm…" Harry blushed then wiggled a bit. "Do you have a loo?" he asked in a whisper. Sally assured him that Jack did have one and took him to the bathroom to use the toilet.

Why a skeleton had need of a bathroom in his house was a mystery. But then again, Jack could also eat and sleep, so why not have a bathroom.

When Harry came out a few minutes later, he followed Sally to the kitchen where Jack was already seated, looking over a few plans the Mayor had brought over earlier. Jack looked up as Harry walked in and gave him one of his wide grins.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?"

"Yes, sir," Harry said shyly, falling back on the manners his aunt pounded into his head.

"You can call me Jack, Harry," Jack said. Then he patted the chair beside him. "Come on sit, Sally makes the best meals."

Harry's eyes widened a bit in surprise, they were going to let him eat at the table? He slowly climbed into the chair, but found he couldn't really see very well over the edge of the table. Jack quickly solved that for Harry, motioning him off the chair and then setting some of his books on the seat, then lifting Harry himself and setting him on the impromptu booster seat. "There we go!"

"Harry, I wasn't sure what to make you," Sally admitted as she brought over a plate and set it in front of Harry. "If you can't eat this, we'll find _something_ you can eat." She cradled her head in her hand as she worried over this, she had tried her best to look into what sort of foods humans could eat and did her best to come up with what she could.

"Y-You don't have to do that!" Harry said not wanting to be trouble. He looked down at the plate; the food looked… a little odd he admitted. The eggs, what he thought were eggs anyway, looked sorta green but he was starving and he didn't want to insult Miss Sally after she cooked for him. Plus he had eaten worse by digging out scraps from the garbage. Picking up the fork by his plate, Harry shoveled a mouthful of the strange looking eggs into his mouth. He hummed happily after a moment, odd-looking they may be but they were tasty, and eagerly started eating the rest. Sally smiled then put down a glass of juice on the table by Harry; it was something the witches had recommended, pumpkin juice.

Sally looked pleased as Harry ate, glad she had come with something he could eat. Harry ate as much as his stomach could handle, which sadly wasn't as much as was healthy for someone his age.

Once he was done, and had assured Sally he really was full, Harry looked up at Jack as the skeleton made a 'clearing throat' sound to catch his attention.

"Harry, today I will be going find your parents," Jack explained.

"My parents? But… they died," Harry said confused.

"Yes, but I will be going to the Land of the Dead to find them," Jack explained. "And bring them back here."

"How?" Harry asked, breaking one of the first rules his aunt and uncle taught him: never ask questions. "Why?"

"We thought that maybe your parents were the best ones to raise you here," Sally explained.

"The rules of Halloween Town will allow them to live here as the undead, there are other corpses and zombies that live in town," Jack added. "But I need their names so I can find them."

"Oh… I… I don't know their names, sir," Harry said bowing his head. "Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon never told me what their names were."

Sally hid a frown behind her hand; she was really starting to wonder what sort of people Harry's aunt and uncle were!

"Well… do you have a last name? And an idea of when they died?" Jack asked.

"My last name is Potter… I'm not sure when they died, I lived with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon since I was a baby," Harry said, and then bit his lip. "But… what if you do find them and they don't like me?"

"Nonsense, I'm sure they'll love you," Jack said with confidence, ruffling Harry's hair as he stood. "I should be off, then, so I can catch Grim before he leaves town."

* * *

"You want me to what?" the Grim Reaper asked Jack when the Pumpkin King caught up to the very personification of Death.

"I need you to take me to the Land of the Dead," Jack repeated.

"And just why do you need to be going there, mon?" Grim asked. "Does this have to be doing with that little mortal that showed up last night?"

"Yes, Sally thought it might be best to bring his parents here to raise him," Jack explained. "It sounded like a sound idea to me. Maybe you even know who they are! Their last name is Potter."

"Do you know how common of a last name 'Potter' is, mon?" Grim asked then sighed. "Fine, I'll take you to the Land of the Dead but you'll be on your own getting back." He turned and sliced the air with his scythe, a glowing portal appearing. "After you, Jack."

Jack eagerly stepped through the portal, it had been quite a while since he last visited the Land of the Dead. He thought that he should pay a visit to Elder Gutknecht, perhaps he would have a clue on how to locate Harry's parents.

* * *

The land of the dead was a lot like Halloween Town with its dark, gothic architecture, but the differences were easy to point out: close-knit buildings, narrow alleyways, and populated solely by the dead. Not that that depressed its citizens any; the dead were quite a lively bunch, barring the offices that governed how the dead interacted with the mortal plane.

Grim left Jack as soon as the pair of skeletons had arrived, Grim having his own duties to take of guiding those who recently died to their proper places. Jack just waved goodbye to his friend and then navigated the alleyways toward the tall towers that stood in the middle of the Land of the Dead. Up the towers Jack went to the book-filled home of the kind leader of the dead.

"Elder Gutknecht?" Jack called looking around. A soft cough came from atop a large stack of books, then a short, hunched-over skeleton with a cracked skull walked into view.

"Yes?" Gutknecht asked as he looked downward, adjusting the spectacles perched on his skull. "Well well, Jack Skellington, my boy, it's certainly an honor that the Pumpkin King pays us a visit. How are you, my child?"

"It is good to see you, Elder Gutknecht," Jack said as he walked up, clasping the elder skeleton's hand in his own.

"You as well. Tell me, how are things in your holiday?" Gutknecht asked.

"Horrible, simply horrible," Jack grinned. "Every year we make Halloween scarier. But this year we had quite the surprise; a little human boy appeared in the town, and we've decided to keep him."

"Jack, mortals and the dead do not mix well," Gutknecht said sternly. "I assume it would only be the same for a human child to be mixed with a holiday world."

"Oh, it's not a problem. He's a tiny male witch, he fits in perfectly!" Jack assured the other. "In fact, he's why I'm here. He said his parents died when he was just a baby, and Sally and I thought it would be splendid if they could come to live in Halloween Town as well, to be together as a family."

"Hmm, well…" Gutknecht scratched his head, the piece of cracked skull rocking back and forth as he did so. "I suppose that is possible, it's not the first time someone has left from here to become part of your holiday. You know the rules of your realm better than I, my child. Give me their names and I will look up to see where they are."

"Harry doesn't know what their names are, but I do know their last name is Potter," Jack admitted. A soft female gasp came from someone hidden on the other side of the mound of books before a female figure quickly came around to the other side. She was blue skinned, like all the undead down there, and had hair as red as his Sally's. She also had green eyes the same shade of poison like Harry's did.

"Did you say Harry Potter?!" Lily Potter demanded as she walked up to Jack.

* * *

Author Note: X3 we'll revisit the Dursleys in the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

The Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.

Author Note: Sorry that I haven't posted in 3 days, I was exhausted from work, been working extra shifts to cover for someone so I almost fell asleep at my desk after starting this chapter then my parental unit's birthday came up so I spent the day with her. So to make up for it this chapter is a bit longer. Also you guys are great, I had no idea how well this fic might do when I posted it since it was one of my odd crossover ideas but I'm thrilled at how much everyone seems to like it.

Chapter 6

When James and Lily Potter died, they hadn't known what to expect from the afterlife. Lily remembered talks of Heaven when she still went to church with her family while James had always been taught more along the lines of the underworld of Greek mythology. Of the two, James's idea of the afterlife was the closest but somehow it still didn't compare to the real thing.

One moment they were fighting for their son's life, the next the Potters found themselves someplace underground in a cramped, dark, yet lively city of the dead. James had appeared first followed by Lily minutes later; neither remembered how the Grim Reaper had brought them there. While both had been greeted as the new arrivals from other dead citizens, James and Lily fretted about what was happening to their son, worried that Harry's life would be cut short before it even really started.

Yet Harry never appeared, and neither parent knew if that meant Harry went to some sort of different afterlife for children, if he had automatically been reborn in a new body, or if he had somehow lived. Both, of course, were hoping for the third option. The Potters couldn't properly enjoy their new surroundings as they fretted over the fate of their son and it was days before a wizard offed himself by accident while celebrating. It was then that they learned that the youngest Potter was not only still alive but thought of as a hero for killing 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,' earning his own ridiculous nickname of 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'.

Neither understood just _how_ Voldemort had died, and the wizard didn't have any answers, but really, for anyone to think their one-year-old son had done it? It was silly but at least their son was still alive and James did preen a bit that his baby boy was seen as a hero. Lily was just thrilled the spell she found had worked; it had been a desperate attempt to save Harry's life to be honest. After this the Potters relaxed a bit, thinking Harry was safe with his godfather Sirius Black or with his godmother Alice Longbottom and her family.

Things calmed a bit and the Potters slowly got used to what was their new un-life where nothing much seemed to happen. There was an incident a few days later where a whole group of Muggles arrived, killed by some sort explosion, but neither paid much attention to that. It would be weeks before another magical died and they could get some news from the mortal realm about their son.

That was when they learned that not only did no one know where Harry Potter was, but that Sirius Black had been thrown into Azkaban for betraying them to Voldemort as well as killing Peter Pettigrew and 13 Muggles. James raged that Sirius would _never_ betray his family and that he hadn't even been the secret keeper to start with, Pettigrew was! On top of that, who the hell had his son if Harry wasn't with his either of his godparents? Lily was angry over what happened to Sirius as well, she wasn't as close to him as James was but he had become a good friend to her, and extremely worried over her son.

It was hours before Lily and James realized the group of Muggles that had appeared a few days after them could very well be the same 13 muggles that Sirius supposedly killed. They quickly located a few of them and got their side of the story.

"It was two blokes fighting," one crispy Muggle female said.

"I think the fat one was yelling something about the tall one betraying someone," another Muggle added.

"Didn't fat fellow have a knife?"

"No, he had a stick…err… wand I think it's supposed to be called. They're like witches or something, remember? Anyway, both of them had one."

"No, no, you're both right. They both had those wand stick thingies but the shorter one also had a knife."

With a bit more arguing among the group, James and Lily pieced together than Sirius had likely tracked down and confronted Pettigrew, who claimed that Sirius was the traitor, then he cut himself with the knife and blew up the street. One of the Muggles swore he saw Pettigrew slice off a finger or two as he had been directly behind the cowardly man. The biggest question that remained on Lily's mind was why Sirius was chasing after Pettigrew instead of, you know, _taking care of her son?_

One thing was for sure, Peter Pettigrew hadn't died in the explosion that he caused, the Potters had looked high and low for him in the Land of the Dead and hadn't found a single trace of him. Bonejangles, the one-eyed jazz-loving singing skeleton who had 'lived' in the underworld for a very long time also reminded them that if Pettigrew had died then he would have appeared the same time as the Muggles he had killed. The only explanations were Pettigrew either apparated—which James swore Pete couldn't do without splinching himself—or he had turned into his rat Animagus form and escaped, which James thought was more likely of the two.

Bondjangles had suggested they see Elder Gutknecht about ways they may find their still-living son. The rickety skeleton hadn't been sure how much he would be able to help but he was happy to lend what aid he could. They also gotten in touch with their caseworker, a ghost named Juno, in the offices of the dead, an organization that had been created to set and monitor very clear rules for the interaction between the living and the dead, something that had come about after a corpse bride had married a living man by accident sometime during the Victorian age. Juno informed them that the living weren't monitored unless they directly interacted with the dead such as haunted houses. Magical ghosts like those at Hogwarts were also somewhat monitored but the rules seemed a bit different for the ghosts of magical people versus the ghosts of Muggles.

But four years later, Lily was starting to lose a bit of hope. She felt like they had searched through every book but found nothing useful. She and James had tried haunting spells but that had busted as well, as they had returned to the place where they died. If she still had the ability, Lily would have been psychically sick when she looked at her destroyed home and wondered once again how her baby survived.

Still she tried, as did James, though his method involved looking for spells from other dead witches and wizards. That was what led to that day: Lily was once again in Elder Gutknecht's tower, slowly flipping through a book but her mind wasn't really on the words on the page. No, her mind was far away; yesterday had been the anniversary of her and her husband's death, marking another year they had been in the Land of the Dead.

Lily's head lifted as she heard a male voice call out "Elder Gutknecht?" to which Gutknecht naturally answered. From there, Lily tried not to listen in to closely as this wasn't any of her business, though she wondered about the whole 'Pumpkin King' and holiday thing. But her head snapped up and she gasped as she heard 'Harry' and 'Potter' come from this other person's mouth. The book was quickly dropped and Lily walked around to the other side of the tower of books in the center of the room.

"Did you say Harry Potter?!" she demanded as she walked up to the tall lanky skeleton wearing a pinstriped suit.

"Yes," Jack said with a tilt of his head.

"Does he have messy black hair and green eyes?" Lily asked. "You said he was a wizard too."

"Yes, he does, though I called him a witch," he responded, wondering if 'wizard' was what male witches were called. Shelving that thought, he smiled widely then and pointed at Lily. "You must be his mother, then! I'm so glad to meet you!"

"Oh, Merlin…" Lily whispered as her knees started to give out, Jack catching her and helping her to move to the floor.

"Are you sure this is your son, Lily my dear?" Gutknecht asked as he laid a hand on Lily's shoulder.

"She has his eye color," Jack said kneeling down so he was eye level with Lily. "Harry will be so thrilled to meet you, my Sally is watching him right now."

"How did you end up with my son? No, wait," Lily stood and wandlessly conjured her doe patronus, softly leaving a message on it before sending it to James. One thing she and James found out about being dead, magic seemed to come easier to them which was good because when they died they didn't have their wands on them. "We'll wait for my husband." Jack had the same look of awe of his face that he had when he discovered Christmas Town at Lily's magic.

"What was that?" he asked himself softly.

They only had to wait for a few minutes before a skeletal deer clambered up the stairs and into the room then shifted into a man with blue skin like Lily, messy looking black hair and wearing wire frame glasses.

"Lily? What's wrong, you sounded panicked and said something about Harry," James Potter said as he rushed to his wife's side. Gutknecht sighed and rubbed the top of his head.

"James, child, I have told you many times not to climb the stairs in your other form," he chided softly. Jack, on the other hand, had a different opinion:

"That was amazing! I've never seen anything like that. I've never known a corpse to have two different forms."

"Who are you?" James asked with a frown.

"My name is Jack Skellington, I am so pleased to meet both of you," Jack said as he grabbed James's hand and shook it then repeated the same with Lily. "I've come all the way from Halloween Town looking for you, Harry will be so happy that I've found you."

"Wait, wait," Lily said as she pulled her hand from Jack's and held it up in a 'wait' motion. "Halloween Town? I don't understand."

"Jack here is known as the Pumpkin King," Gutknecht explained. "Halloween Town is the world that the holiday with the same name comes from, Jack is the ruler over the holiday."

"Holidays have their own worlds?" James asked surprised.

"Of course! My world is in charge of Halloween every year, all sorts of different monsters and anything else related to Halloween is there," Jack said proudly. "This year was one of our best."

"That… is frankly amazing but I want to know how Harry ended up there," Lily said.

"Well, the Creature Under The Stairs claims he popped into a stairs cupboard to do a little Halloween scaring last night but found your son instead. It startled him a bit and he left, the way back must have not closed all the way as your son must have followed him," Jack explained.

"Cupboard under the stairs? What was Harry doing there?" Lily asked in horror.

"Sally said that is where Harry claims he sleeps at his aunt's house," Jack said. Lily and James's faces would have paled if they still had blood.

"His aunt's house?" Lily repeated. "Did he say what this aunt's name is?"

"Petunia, I believe," Jack said.

"What is he doing living with Petunia!?" Lily screeched.

"What is that Muggle bitch doing putting my son in a cupboard like a house elf!?" James roared in anger. Lily pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes and hissed like an angry cat.

"I can't believe this, Harry was to _never_ go to Petunia! Dumbledore knew that!" she yelled.

"We refuse to let Harry live with that… that muggle bitch and that bastard husband of hers," James spat.

Lily was fuming at the thought of her old Headmaster, knowing he was behind it as every dead witch and wizard that came after them said Dumbledore was the one who assured everyone Harry was placed in a safe home. She was going to yank the hairs out of that old man's beard out one by one! She leaned against James as he wrapped her arms around her.

He had never thought he would hate a Muggle as much as he had hated Vernon Dursley, but the one and only time he had met Petunia and Vernon, Vernon had insulted James and Lily. The fat Muggle had already known he and Lily were a wizard and witch, more than likely Petunia had told him unless the man had some wizarding family members they knew nothing about, and he had made it known he hadn't 'approved' of their 'unnaturalness'. James would admit by the end of the night he had ended up cursing Vernon, not a strong curse by any means but enough to let Vernon know how he really felt. Luckily, Lily was able to reverse the spell before James had been caught and fined for attacking a Muggle.

That had been the last time Lily had contact with her sister beyond Christmas exchanges. But although she might have been done with Petunia, Lily didn't want her dead and Voldemort's Death Eaters would surely kill Petunia if they could find and get to her. So as a last kindness to her only sister and her nephew, she secretly put a blood ward around Petunia's home.

"That's why I'm here!"

The Potters broke out of their flashbacks as Jack spoke up again, grinning widely.

"I've already decided Harry will live in Halloween Town, as a… wizard?" Jack looked at Lily to confirm he had the correct word. "As a wizard, he fits right in with Halloween, but our denizens aren't overly familiar with mortals beyond our holiday, so Sally suggested that I find you two. Who better to raise him than his parents!"

"Wait… you want us to come to this Halloween Town place… so we can raise our son?" Lily asked.

"Where do we sign up?" James asked grinning, a town just for Halloween? Getting to raise Harry like they always wanted to? Why would either of them pass that up? Oh, the whole monster thing was worrying but James had been best mates with a werewolf. And if they were all as jolly as this odd skeleton fellow, it couldn't be that bad.

"This is all very strange, but I agreed with James," Lily said.

"Splendid!" Jack clapping his hands together. "Harry will be thrilled."

"When can we leave?" Lily asked eager to see her baby again, how much had Harry grown? Petunia and Vernon had better not have hurt him!

"Now, if you like," Jack said.

"I suppose this is goodbye, then," Gutknecht said.

"Oh, Elder Gutknecht, thank you for your help," Lily said bending down and hugging the rickety skeleton.

"You are welcome, my child, I am overjoyed that this is working out for you,"

"Come on, Lils," James held out his hand to Lily then looked at Jack. "Let's go!"

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Halloween Town, Sally was hard at work putting together Harry a new outfit as the clothing he had been wearing was just horrible. And not in the good way.

Currently, Harry was taking a bath in Jack's tub, the boy delighting in the fact that he was being allowed to take as long as he wanted in the warm water rather than hurry through a lukewarm shower. She didn't understand how someone could treat anyone like that, much less a child. With a bit of coaxing, Sally had finally gotten Harry to tell her a bit about his life at the Dursleys. And it was worse than she thought.

Harry's relatives had treated him as a servant, forcing him to do all the cooking and cleaning. Dr. Finkelstein had originally created Sally for the same purpose but other than a cruel word when he was angry, her creator was never harmful to her. When she was punished, all he did was lock her in her room for a few hours, but he had still fed her and taken good care of her despite her restlessness. The doctor had slowly grown more accepting of Sally after the whole Christmas thing, leaving her be to live her own life, and slowly growing close to her again as it became increasingly clear that Jack Skellington would be his Skull-In-Law before long.

But the point was that even if Sally was only created a handful of years before, she was still created, not born; despite her restlessness, the doctor had given her maturity from the day she was born, and she expressed her gratitude for that every day. Harry, on the other hand, was only five years old. Five was just much too young for any normal child to do those sorts of things.

So, for once, she was going to wholeheartedly agree with Jack with keeping Harry in Halloween Town; even if Jack couldn't find the boy's parents, there was no doubt who was the better option to raise him between the two of them and his relatives.

Sally smiled lightly as she removed the black and white striped shirt from the sewing machine and placed it on top of the shorts she had already made. And just in time, too, as Harry stepped into the doorway wrapped in a towel.

"Miss Sally?" he asked shyly, towel pulled tight around him. His skin was still pink from the heat of the water and his wild black hair plastered to his head.

"Enjoy your bath?" Sally asked.

"Yes, but I couldn't find my clothes after," he admitted.

"I made you a new outfit," Sally explained as she picked up the shirt and shorts, handing them to Harry. His old clothing she had hidden for now, unsure of what to do with them.

"For me?" Harry asked with a gasp as he took the outfit one-handed, the other holding the towel close.

"Go try them on, then I can adjust them more afterward," Sally said. Harry quickly retreated back into the bathroom then returned a few minutes later wearing the shirt and shorts. The shirt was a little big, one of Harry's bony shoulders was sticking out of the neck hole, and the shorts were long enough to go past his knees.

"Yes, I'll have to adjust the shirt a bit," the Ragdoll mused, one hand on her cheek and head tilted to the side.

"You don't have to, it fits much better than Dudley's old shirt," Harry said. Sally agreed only because Harry looked like he was nearly swimming in the rag he called a shirt.

"Ruff ruff," Zero barked as he floated around Harry.

"Well, I think Zero likes it," Sally said smiling. "If you're comfortable with the way the shirt is…"

"I am Miss Sally, thank you," Harry couldn't believe Miss Sally made him a whole new shirt and pants! He never had anything new much less made just for him. He jumped as a scream tore through the house, looking around with frightened. "What was that?"

"Just the doorbell, Harry. I wonder who it is," Sally said as she headed toward the door. Harry looked down at Zero.

"They got a scream as a doorbell?" he asked. Zero just barked.

On the other side of the door Sally found Ethan the corpse boy, the Withered Wing Demon, and the Mummy Boy.

"Can the human come out and play?" Ethan asked. Sally considered this for a second then opened the door.

"You can meet him but it's his decision if he wants to play. And his name is Harry," she told them as the trio trooped inside. If Harry was going to live in the world of Halloween he was going to have to get to know the other citizens, the kids were a good place to start. At least they weren't Lock, Shock, and Barrel.

* * *

"Vernon, what are we going to do!?" Petunia asked wringing her hands in worry from where she sat in the living room. Vernon was pacing back and forth in front of the telly and fireplace. After discovering Harry gone, Petunia quickly made Dudley breakfast and dropped him off at school, leaving an excuse that Harry was 'sick' while Vernon called out for the day.

They had searched everywhere for their nephew, from the basement to the attic then around outside while trying not to arouse the suspicions of their neighbors. They had found nothing, no trace of the younger boy anywhere. Petunia couldn't even figure out how he had gotten out, he had been locked in and even if he snuck out of the cupboard after she unlocked it, Harry was still too short to unlock the door and leave that way.

"What if _they_ find out we lost the boy?" Petunia continued. Vernon stopped and looked at Petunia with a musing look on his face.

"Maybe _they_ are the ones who came and got the boy," he suggested. Petunia snorted and gave her husband a look.

"Do you really think we would still be sitting here if they found out where we had the boy sleeping?" she asked.

"Those freaks are strange, maybe sleeping in a cupboard is normal to them," Vernon suggested but it did sound weak even to his own ears. "The boy did some sort of… magic…" It almost physically hurt Vernon to say the word out loud. "Either way, after this I refuse to have that boy back in this house. Think of it this way, Pet, this could be a very good thing."

"And what if _they_ come looking for the boy, discover that we lost him?" Petunia asked.

"They should have thought of that when they left him on our doorstep like milk," Vernon said as he walked over to his extra wide armchair and sat with a groan. "Really, Pet, look at this as a blessing in disguise. In four years, we haven't seen any of them, no one has come up to us about how we're raising the boy. I'm starting to think they just abandoned him here."

Petunia thought on that then started to relax slightly, it was true that there had been no witches who appeared suddenly demanding they treat the boy in a certain way. No random robe wearing freak asking why Harry was sleeping in a broom cupboard or why they were starting to make him do all the chores.

She was sure they ran into one wizard while at the shops earlier this year, he had shaken the boy's hand and said something to him before Petunia had dragged the confused boy away. If the wizard was going to say something, he should have done it then. Petunia relaxed further into her seat while Vernon nodded as if he saw she finally could see what he was getting at, and then Petunia frowned.

"What about the neighbors? They'll ask questions as to where the boy has gone and why we haven't called the police," she pointed out. Vernon waved the concern away as he stood and walked over to his liquor cabinet, pouring himself a small glass of brandy.

"We'll tell them a relative of yours agreed to take in the boy, that they're better equipped to handle him," he said. "They never saw the boy much and you never speak much of your family, I doubt they'll really question it."

"Yes… I suppose that would work," Petunia mused. She would clean out the cupboard, turning it back to what it was originally used for, erase all the traces of the boy from the house, and finally put that part of her life behind her.

* * *

Author Note: And if the Dursleys think they're going to get away with how they treated Harry, they got another thing coming. X3


	7. Chapter 7

The Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.

Chapter 7

Harry turned curiously toward the doorway as he heard sounds of footsteps coming closer. His eyes widened as three child-sized monsters came into the room with Sally.

The first was a bald and fat child, though not anywhere near as large as his cousin Dudley, with grayish blue skin. He wore a black and white striped shirt similar to Harry's and a pair of black shorts. His eyes were stitched closed and Harry wondered how the boy could even see. The second was a skinny child-sized mummy with only one large golden eye visible between the bandages. The last was a winged being with blood red eyes and a normal-sized head but a tiny body hanging below it, swinging freely. Instead of hair, the demon had spikes on his head, and he walked around on his large bat-like wings.

"Wow, he really is a human!" the corpse kid said as he leaned close to Harry who leaned back in surprise, wondering again how the boy could see. "Want to play with us, human boy?"

"His name is Harry, remember, Ethan?" the mummy boy corrected, the bandages moving over where his mouth would be.

"W-What do you mean play?" Harry asked. He only knew the game 'Harry-hunting' that Dudley made up last week, his cousin and his friends chasing Harry around until they caught him and hit him. He hoped that wasn't what the monster kids meant.

"We could play catch," Withered Wing suggested. "We found a fresh head to play with in the graveyard." Harry's eyes widened, play with a head!?

"I know, we can play hide and go scream," Mummy boy suggested instead.

"Hide and go… scream? W-What is that?" Harry asked looking from one monster boy to another.

"Someone is it and the others go hide, the person who's 'it' gotta find them," Withered Wing explained.

"They you jump out and scream loudly when you're found!" Ethan said jumping toward Harry with his arms raised into the air and screamed.

"Then you gotta run for the safe spot, if you're tagged by who's 'it' then you're it the next round," Mummy boy finished.

It sounded to Harry a lot like hide and go seek, he had seen the other kids from his school play during playtime but had never been invited to join in as by that point Dudley had threatened anyone who tried to be friends with Harry. Harry looked up to Sally questioningly, unsure as to what to do.

"You don't have to, Harry," Sally assured him, brushing his hair back. "But you're going to be living here for now on, they'll be your friends."

"Ummm…." Harry looked to the three monster kids, biting his lip for a moment. "O-Okay… I'll come play." The boys cheered loudly.

"Ethan can be it, come on," Mummy boy grabbed Harry's arm and pulled into toward the door and outside, Zero floated after them barking. "The dragon fountain in the middle of town is the safe zone if you're found."

"Stay inside the town! No playing in the graveyard!" Sally called.

"Got it!" The three monster boys called back. Sally sighed and closed the door, trusting Zero to keep an eye on Harry while she made him a few more shirts and pants.

In the daylight, Halloween Town looked a lot different. Still dark and twisted but not as… scary.

"Okay, Harry, find a good place to hide while Ethan counts," Withered Wing said then ran off on his wings one way while Mummy boy took off another way. Ethan was leaning against the fountain counting loudly. Harry looked at Zero then went to look for a place to hide, he was pretty good at hiding since he did it so often from Dudley.

Running through the streets, Harry nearly got ran over by a clown riding a unicycle who beeped his horn at the boy as he rode around Harry laughing maniacally.

"Where do I hide, Zero?" Harry asked.

"Ruff," Zero looked left and right then barked again as he floated toward one of the many alleyways and behind an arch. Harry followed him, finding piles of wooden boxes, some broken, and climbed behind one that had just enough space for him. Zero easily settled in next to Harry, his ghostly form hanging half out of the wall behind them. Things got quiet then, Harry petting Zero as he watched out through cracks in the wooden boxes for the corpse boy.

It reminded Harry of hiding from Dudley, but ironically, without the same sense of fear. So far, what little interaction he had with the monster kids, they didn't seem very mean. Harry didn't have to worry about Dudley scaring them off; in fact, they would scare Dudley and his friends! He giggled softly as he imagined the monster kids scaring off his cousin. He wouldn't miss him or any of his other relatives.

It took a few minutes before Harry saw Ethan appear in the arch way, looking around and once again Harry wondered how he could see with his eyes closed. Harry shifted up onto his feet, holding his breath as Ethan searched the other side of the tiny courtyard and got an insane idea. He never tried to scare anyone before, but Ethan said you had to jump out and scream when you were found, so what if Harry got the drop of the other boy.

When Ethan was close enough, Harry jumped out of his hiding spot with a scream, startling Ethan who stumbled back with his arms pin-wheeling as he started to lose his balance with a little scream before regaining it. Harry climbed over the crates and jumped to the ground taking off at a run.

"I'm gonna get you!" Ethan called as he chased Harry and Zero, everyone turning their heads as laughter filled the air from the boys. Harry dodged around two pale men wearing black robes and carrying tiny umbrellas and ducked under a dog man until he reached the fountain, his hands slapping the stone.

"Darn," Ethan said with a snap of his fingers but grinning widely showing off his mostly toothless mouth.

"So… I'm not it right?" Harry asked.

"I didn't catch you, so no," Ethan agreed then walked off to find the other two monster kids. Harry giggled softly as he sat down on the ground by the fountain.

"Ruff?" Zero tilted his head to the side slightly.

"That's the first time I've been chased and not beaten up," Harry said still grinning widely. These monsters… they weren't so bad or scary when you got used to them.

The other boys showed up not too long later; Ethan caught Withered Wing who was now it. They played for a while longer, Harry was even it a couple of times, and he got used to and even started liking the monster kids. They didn't pick on him or chase him outside of their game and Harry was very happy to be playing with friends, even odd ones. They were far from someone his aunt or uncle would approve of and that made them so much more appealing.

When they got bored with the game, the three monster boys showed Harry around Halloween Town, pointing out different citizens to Harry like the Vampire Brothers, the Wolfman, and even Undersea Gal. The more Harry saw of the monsters of Halloween Town, who went about their day like normal people, helped to ease any lingering doubts and fears Harry had about the place.

"So all the monsters are nice?" Harry asked as they enjoyed something called 'Ice Scream,' which was like ice cream but let out a high-pitched scream before it was eaten.

"Nah, there are mean and evil monsters," Withered Wing said. "Most of them don't live here, Jack won't allow it."

"There was Oogie Boogie, but he's gone now," Ethan said as he shoved the last of his ice scream into his mouth then licked his fingers.

"Oogie Boogie?" Harry questioned. "Who's that?"

"He's the boogie man, the king of bugs," Mummy boy explained. "He tried to be the scariest monster around but Jack is 10 times scarier than anyone else."

"So, what happened to him?" Harry asked with a little shiver of fear.

"He tried to take over the other holidays, but Jack defeated him and saved everyone," Withered Wing explained. "Jack is the greatest."

Harry was glad to hear that Santa and the other holiday people were okay and that this 'Oogie Boogie' was gone.

* * *

Leaving the Land of the Dead was pretty easy; with a bit of magic, Elder Gutknecht had sent Jack, James and Lily to the graveyard in Godric's Hollow. It was the middle of the day but the three were far back enough in the old graveyard and it was chilly enough that day that no one was out that could see them.

"Now, where is that tunnel…" Jack said, rubbing his chin while peering around. Lily wrapped her arms around herself as she looked down at her and James's graves, this was the first time she ever seen them as their haunting spells always made them appear in their old house.

"'The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,'" James read on their gravestone. "Bit of an odd quote, nothing I would have picked."

"Grim would just laugh at that," Jack said with a laugh then seem to light up as he spied a monument of a skeletal-looking horse with bat-like wings and a reptilian looking head atop a mausoleum. "What is that?"

"A thestral," James explained. "It likely belongs to one of the old pureblood families, a dark one."

"You must tell me more of these 'thestrals' later," Jack said as he walked up to the mausoleum and pushed on the doors. They opened easily to his touch, surprising the Potters as the doors should have stayed sealed with a spell.

"Come on," Jack beckoned with a wave of his hand. James and Lily looked at each other for a second they followed Jack inside, jumping as the doors slammed shut behind them.

The inside of the mausoleum lit up with an orange glow that originated from Jack's hand as he walked to the other end of the tomb where a plaque naming those buried inside laid.

"Here we are," Jack said grinned as he reached up and pulled up on the plaque.

"Merlin!" Lily yelped in surprise as it lifted up from the floor like a trap door.

"Was that there the whole time?" James asked as Jack stepped into the tunnel underneath the door.

"These are special paths to Halloween Town," Jack explained. "Most humans and mortals are unable to open them. Come along."

"After you, Lils," James said with a wave of his hand.

"Such a Gryffindor," Lily teased with a roll of her green eyes as she stepped up to the hole in the ground and was helped down by Jack. James reacted with the expected maturity: he stuck out his tongue at her back before climbing down after her. Jack tugged down the plaque to close the tunnel, no evidence of their passing left except a few footprints in the dust.

The tunnel was dark, lit only by the orange light in Jack's hand, and long. How long, neither James nor Lily knew, it could have been a lot shorter than it seemed and it was just the Potters who felt it was long as they got closer and closer to being reunited with their son. To pass the time, they asked Jack questions: yes, there were evil monsters and dark creatures but they were banished from the town and the closest one, Oogie Boogie the boogie man, was long gone. At most, they had a trio of troublemakers; Boogie's boys Lock, Shock, and Barrel, though they were just kids. Yes, there were other holiday worlds, Jack had met both the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, whom he referred to as 'Sandy Claws'. Jack then told them the tale of how he discovered Christmas Town and had tried to give Santa a break, but had made a mess of the other holiday instead.

James found himself liking Jack more and more, the Pumpkin King had a prankster's spirit that he enjoyed greatly. He _stole_ Christmas from Father Christmas, what a great prank!

Finally, at last, they reached the end of the tunnel where Jack pushed open the door to let them out. The graveyard was filled with unevenly spaced grave stones, some crooked looking and some crumbling. In the distance they could see the town of Halloween.

Lily squinted as she climbed out of the tunnel and looked up toward the sun.

"The sun looks like a jack-o-lantern," she murmured to herself. It was a good thing she always had a liking for Halloween because it looked she was going to be drenched in it for the rest of her afterlife.

"This way," Jack said leading the way down a path to the town. As they approached the main black iron-rod gate, it lifted up with a grinding sound. Lily started a bit as the anthropomorphic raven sitting in the gatekeeper's house tilted his bowler hat to her.

"Miss," the gatekeeper cawed.

"Merlin," James said softly as he looked around. "It's something out of a bizarre dream."

"Thank you, we call it home," Jack said as they came up on the central square of the two, turning to James and Lily with a grin and his arms spread wide. "Welcome to Halloween Town!"


	8. Chapter 8

The Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Author note: Happy Halloween everyone! We're finally reuniting the Potters in this chapter, I hope everyone likes it.

Edit 5-10-18: This chapter has now been betaed by The Patient One.

Chapter 8

As James and Lily looked around in suitable awe of the creepy little town, a black hearse stopped by the fountain and a squat candy-corn shaped man climbed out, Lily gasping softly as she saw he had two faces.

"Jack, where have you been? Did you look over the plans I sent you?" the Mayor said as he walked up to Jack.

"Of course, Mayor, there are a few good ideas to start planning next year's Halloween," Jack said. "I was out of town, picking up our new citizens." He waved a bony hand at the Potters. The Mayor quickly turned to them, rosy cheeked face in front, and quickly laid on the charm since they would be voters.

"Welcome to Halloween Town!" He said. "We've certainly been getting many new faces around here. I'm the Mayor. If you have any concerns, or praises, just bring them to me."

"Mayor, perhaps you could do me a favor," Jack quickly said catching the other's attention again.

"Of course, Jack my boy," the Mayor said.

"Call a town meeting for tonight," Jack requested. "It'll be a great way to introduce everyone!" The Mayor hummed then nodded, still grinning widely.

"Not a bad idea, I'll get right on that," the Mayor said as he climbed back into the Mayor-mobile and drove off, speaking into the loudspeaker announcing a town meeting.

"I never thought I'd see a literal two-faced politician," James said with a little laugh. "Is he always like that?"

"Worse," Jack said with a grin.

"That's nice and all, but I want to see my son," Lily said an impatient tone, James nodding in agreement.

"Of course, this way," Jack led them toward his house on the outskirts of the town.

* * *

"And we had Ice Scream and they told me about a really mean monster called O-O-Oogie," Harry said, telling Sally about his day. He stood very still as Sally carefully took in the shirt so it would fit Harry better.

"Yes, he was very mean," Sally agreed having been kidnapped and nearly killed by Oogie more than once. "But you had a lot of fun, right?"

"Uh-huh," Harry nodded then added softly. "I never had friends before, it's nice. At least Dudley can't scare them away, they'd scare him first!" Sally laughed, enjoying the pure joy and delight of Harry's words. They both turned their heads as they heard the front door open, Zero barking and rushing into the other room.

"A ghost dog!" a male voice said.

"Hello, Zero," Jack's voice followed. "Sally?"

"In here, Jack," Sally said as she stood, Harry moving to hide shyly behind her legs. He watched as Mr. Jack came back in with a blue-skinned woman and man, the woman was looking around frantically and then saw him hiding behind Miss Sally.

"Harry?" Lily whispered as the tiny boy peered around the Ragdoll. Harry studied her in turn then noticed her eyes were the same color as his.

"Mummy?" he asked, Mr. Jack really had gone and found his mom and dad! He came out from behind Sally and ran over to Lily as she slid to the ground, pulling Harry in close to her.

"Oh, Harry, baby," Lily said as she held him close, feeling James get down with them on the floor and pulling his family into a hug. Why was her baby so small and skinny? What had Petunia and Vernon done to him?

Jack looked at Sally and motioned her to follow him outside so the Potters could have a bit of time to themselves. Zero followed his master out, stopping for a moment to look back at the little family then floated out.

Harry couldn't believe it; he was being hugged by his Mum and Dad. There was no heartbeat under his ear and their skin was cold to the touch but they were hugging him and whispering softly to him.

"Merlin, I almost can't believe it," James said. "My little Prongslet, you got so big." He gently rubbed Harry's back and smiled down at the boy as Harry looked up at his shyly.

"You're really here," Harry said softly, reaching out to his daddy, James eagerly pulling Harry into his lap though Lily kept a hand on their son.

"Of course we are, Prongslet, as soon as we heard where you were we came for you," James assured him.

"Harry, baby, I'm so sorry we left you," Lily said cupping Harry's cheek, her thumb caressing the skin that should have been plump still with baby fat but hardly had any. "We never wanted too."

"Then why did Daddy crash the car?" Harry asked.

"Car? What car?" James asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uncle Vernon said you was a… a drunkin and crashed the car, killing you and Mummy," Harry said. James fumed in anger and gave Lily a side-glance.

"I'm going to kill your sister and brother-in-law," he growled then looked down at Harry. "Kiddo, that isn't what happened. I wasn't a 'drunkin' and I didn't kill myself or your mother in a car crash."

"Harry, sweetheart…" Lily hesitated for a moment, how could you explain to a five-year-old that you were murdered? But they had to say something; neither of them were going to let Petunia and Vernon lie to their son like that. "Your father and I, we were killed by a very bad man."

"Yeah, see there was this very bad wizard who didn't like certain type of people and went around hurting everyone with other wizards and witches just like him," James took over explaining. "He didn't like your mother and me, we fought against him because he was bad."

"So… you're like superheroes? Like on the telly?" Harry asked. "What's a wizard?"

"A wizard, or witch, is a person who can use magic," James said, casting a quick look around and grabbing random item off the floor. Holding it in front of Harry, James transfigured the object into a little stuffed stag.

"Wow!" Harry gasped, taking the stag from James when his father handed it to him. The word 'magic' almost made him repeat what his aunt and uncle said to him all the time, 'there was no such thing as magic' but Harry was still young enough to believe in magic wholeheartedly and he was in a town with real monsters _and_ he had both his parents there with him.

"And guess what, you're a wizard too," James said, grinning as Harry's green eyes lit up in wonder.

"Really?" Harry whispered.

"Yep, you'll get to learn all sorts of spells and charms," James said. "And I'll teach you all the best ways to pull pranks."

"I think maybe we should get back to our story," Lily said as she stole Harry back from her husband who gave them a playful pout. "We're not superheroes, baby, we were just doing the right thing. But the bad wizard didn't like us and he didn't like you. He wanted to hurt us so we went into hiding using a very special spell."

"But we trusted the wrong person to help hide us," James added with a dark scowl on his face as he thought about Pettigrew's treachery. Harry never did like Peter when he was a baby, refused to be held by the man and always cried when Peter was around. James wondered if somehow Harry sensed that Peter was no good. "He was helping the bad man in secret and told him where we lived."

"Why would he do that?" Harry asked hugging the stuff stag close to his chest as he cuddled with his mother.

"We don't know, sweetheart," Lily said with a sigh as she finger combed Harry's hair, thinking that it was just as unruly as James's hair. "Some people are just like that."

"What happen then, mummy?" Harry asked as he relaxed further against Lily as he enjoyed the feeling of her fingers running through his hair while he played with the stuffed stag.

"Well, Peter—that's who we trusted to keep us hidden—told the bad wizard where we were and he came to our home," Lily took up the story again.

"I had you and your mother run while I fought him," James said. "But he used very bad magic to kill me."

"We were in your room and I used a special spell to help keep you safe," Lily said as she traced her fingers over the lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead, wondering where he got it. Just under her fingertips she could feel a sort of magic that made her feel sick. "Then the bad wizard broke down the door and he used the same bad magic that he used on your father."

"The green light," Harry said. James and Lily froze for a second, sharing a look.

"What do you mean by that Prongslet?" James asked.

"I have bad dreams, I see a green light when I try to remember the car cra… I mean, that night," Harry whispered.

"Oh, Merlin, James, do you think…" Lily was horrified that Harry remembered even that much from that night!

"Yes, buddy, the bad magic looks like a green light," James said. "We don't know what happened afterward but somehow the bad wizard went away and you lived." There was a lot they were leaving out of the story they told Harry, but there would be time in the future, when he was much older, to tell him the whole story.

"Then I went to Aunt Petunia," Harry said hugging the toy close.

"Yes, but baby, you should have _never_ gone to live with your aunt," Lily said. "I knew how Tuney felt about magic and our kind, so I left special instructions for you not to live with her. We had many people and families picked out for you to live with instead."

"Why did I go there then?" Harry asked.

"We don't know, Prongslet," James said with a shake of his head. "Someone we trusted went against our wishes but that doesn't matter now. We're here and we're not leaving again, Harry." Harry smiled happily as James ruffled his hair and Lily kissed his forehead. He felt loved for the first time in as long as he could remember. He was so glad that he followed that monster.

* * *

"You did a good thing," Sally said as she leaned up to kiss Jack's cheek. "Thank you for finding his parents."

"Well, you were right, he should have his parents," Jack said as he smiled down at his Sally. "And they are delightful people, their magic and creatures are so interesting." Sally sighed and just shook her head grinning.

"Just try not to run off to explore this new thing just yet," she scolded playfully making Jack laugh and Zero flip happily.


	9. Chapter 9

The Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Author note: Just to let y'all know, updates are gonna be a little more spread out but I'm still posting little chapters for this fic, just need to make time to work on my other fanfics and my original stuff.

This chapter has been betaed by Werejaguar of Halloween Town

Edit 5-10-18: This chapter betaed a second time by The Patient One.

Chapter 9

A short while later found James moved to the gothic lumpy looking settee with Harry, and he was entertaining his son with more feats of magic. Harry wasn't the only one enthralled; Jack sat nearby also enchanted by the magic. He had seen magic before, of course, and had seen the witches cast spells; he even had his own brand of magic, nothing like James's or the witches, but there was a reason he was the Pumpkin King. But he had never seen anything such as what James was showing.

The two females of their group watched on the other side of the room. Sally had been a bit of a shocker when Lily had fully taken her in, her hair a much darker red than Lily's and her body all stitched together as it was, with her dress being in an identical state. Yet there was a level of deep kindness in the woman's eyes that made Lily feel that Sally was someone she could easily get along with.

"Thank you," Lily said, breaking the comfortable silence between them. "Jack said you were the one who suggested he find us."

"I thought Harry deserved to have his parents," Sally said with a smile. "But we would have kept him here regardless, after what he said about his aunt."

"Did… Did Harry tell you much?" Lily asked, glancing over at the men where Harry laughed happily as James created a small light show for him. Jack was also taken in by the light show, his mind already at work thinking up ways they could use this sort of magic for next Halloween.

"No, not much, but enough," Sally said, her smile fading. "But I suspected something was wrong at the start. He seemed afraid of her, and with how he looks and what he was wearing…"

"What do you mean?" Lily asked. "What was Harry wearing?"

"It's in the other room, I'll show you," Sally motioned for Lily to follow her, and the curious un-dead witch let Sally lead her out of the room and upstairs to Jack's room. Sally stood by a bookcase and pulled the stitching out from around her wrist, paying no mind to Lily's gasp as her hand fell off then moved on its own, climbing up the side of the bookcase to the top. "I left it here so Harry wouldn't accidently find it."

"Doesn't… doesn't that hurt?" Lily asked, looking at Sally's arm where she could see dead leaves sticking out of the stump.

"No, I don't feel physical pain," Sally assured her. The hand reached the top and tugged a clothing bundle to the edge of the bookcase, letting it fall to the floor then jumped down to Sally's shoulder. "That is what Harry was wearing," she nodded to the bundle.

Lily took a second to watch as Sally removed a needle hidden in her hair and reached into a patchwork pocket, threading the needle on a spool of thread inside then started stitching her hand back onto the end of her arm.

Lily shook herself then leaned down, picking up the bundle and shaking it out, revealing a large thread-worn shirt that was stained and washed-out looking. A pair of pants fell to the floor, they were also much too big.

"What in the… Harry was wearing these? They look like they could fit a baby elephant!" Lily said in outrage as she held the shirt up in front of her.

"He didn't say much about them. When I asked, he only said that they used to belong to his cousin," Sally said, clasping her hands in front of her after she finished sewing herself together.

Lily knew very little about her nephew, Petunia was very little forthcoming about her son other than gloating that she was the first one pregnant between them the last time she spoke with her sister, a time she never told James about. She knew his name was Dudley and that he was a few months older than Harry, but that was the extent of her knowledge.

"Dudley isn't much older than Harry, how are these his clothing? Did Petunia let her son get this fat?" Lily shook her head and lowered the shirt. "Merlin… I don't understand her at all."

"Bad blood?" Sally guessed. Lily sighed and sat down burying her face into her hands.

"She was always jealous of me. Mum and Dad used to introduce me as their 'pretty daughter' but we got along mostly when we were children. When I was younger, I used to have bouts of accidental magic, not that I knew that was what it was at the time. I learned how to control it a bit, Tuney use to tell me off for that all the time. When I was nine, a boy from around our neighborhood recognized that I was a witch. We became friends but Severus and Tuney always hated each other," she explained. "Mum and Dad were always excited that I was a witch and Petunia just drifted away from me while I was at Hogwarts, my school where I learned magic. In our later years, we never got along, she would call me a 'freak' where our parents couldn't hear her.

"Don't get me wrong, I still loved her, she's my sister but," Lily sighed as she looked at the shirt again with a shake of her head. "This is too much. How could she hurt my baby like this? Did she hate me that much to take it out on my son, her own family?"

"I don't know," Sally said biting her lip. Lily huffed then stood, grabbing the pants off the floor and taking it over to the fireplace. She tossed both articles of clothing into the hearth and then, with a whispered spell and a raised hand, she set them on fire.

"I don't either, Merlin knows James isn't going to stand for this and I don't feel inclined to stop whatever revenge he's going to cook up," Lily said as she watched the clothes burn. "At least Harry is with us now, we'll make sure our baby knows that he's loved." Sally smiled and followed Lily downstairs where they rescued James from a highly curious Jack.

* * *

"If Paddy and Moony were here, they would be flipping their lids," James said as he peered out from behind the curtain that hid him and his family from the rest of the town hall. The room was filled to the brim with all sorts of creatures of the night. James saw vampires, a werewolf, several un-dead like Lily and himself but more terrifying looking, and a pair of witches floating above the crowd on brooms looking like something straight out of some muggle idea of a witch. There was even a moving, talking tree in the back of the room with five skeletons hanging from the branches with ropes around their necks!

"Mummy, who's Paddy and Moony?" Harry asked, sitting in Lily's lap as she perched on a stool while they waited for Jack to introduce them to the rest of Halloween Town. Her and James had hardly put Harry down, one of them always holding the child since they reunited. Harry hardly minded, soaking up the attention and love they gave him.

"They're friends of your daddy's," Lily explained. "And mine too."

"Think we would be able to somehow find Moony and get him here?" James asked as he turned to face Lily. "Bust Padfoot out?"

"I don't know…" Lily said with a frown. She wasn't thrilled with Sirius in Azkaban any more than James was and she wanted to yell at him to find out why he chased after Pettigrew instead of taking Harry.

"We're almost ready," Jack said as he joined them. Lily sighed and stood, Harry on her hip. He was so small and light that it was no trouble at all for her to carry him.

"Alright, show time I guess," James said as he joined Lily. Jack slipped past the curtain, the Mayor turning the spotlight on him as soon as he appeared.

"Please, everyone, quiet down!" he called into the crowd. The sounds of everyone talking lessened as they focused on their Pumpkin King. "Tonight, I called you all here to introduce and welcome our new residents!" A roar filled the room as everyone applauded and shouted their excitement and approval. Jack held up his hands in a 'quiet down' gesture, waiting until it was quiet enough for him to speak again.

"As you all know, a young wizard found his way here to our world on Halloween night. I have already decided that the boy will live here with us and, after some thought, I went to retrieve his parents who had passed away from the Land of the Dead. Tonight, we welcome James and Lily Potter and their son Harry to our town!"

Jack grabbed the rope next to him and pulled open the curtain so everyone could see the Potters. James and Lily looked out at the sea of monsters that clapped, howled and shouted their welcomes, Harry waving happily to his new friends Ethan the corpse boy, the Withered Wing Demon, and the Mummy boy who all called and waved back. Above the roaring crowd Helgamine and Zeldaborne looked at each other then cackled in glee.

"We have _the_ Harry Potter!" Helgamine said.

"The Boy-Who-Lived is our student to be!" Zeldaborne added with equal glee. While they had spent most of their long lives as the official witches of Halloween, the pair kept up to date on what was going on in the Wizarding Worlds and would even interact with the darker sects when need be, most people assuming they were Hags. So they heard about the downfall of the so-called Dark Lord Voldemort and his defeat at the hands of little Harry Potter. To learn the powerful little wizard that had appeared among their numbers was that same child had them nearly vibrating with excitement.

"Well, I think we're an instant hit, Lils," James said into Lily's ear while raising a hand in greeting. Lily snorted softly in laughter, James always did love being the center of attention.


	10. Chapter 10

The Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

This chapter has been betaed Werejaguar of Halloween Town

Edit 5-11-18: This chapter betaed a second time by The Patient One.

Chapter 10

The Potters stayed up late into the night meeting several of the other citizens of Halloween Town. It was shocking to James to meet so many "Dark Creatures"—creatures he grew up being taught to fear, avoid entirely, or kill on sight—who were extremely friendly, if not morbid and dark. Lily, on the other hand, tried to figure out how many were from various horror novels and movies growing up, though Mr. Hyde made no sense to her as he didn't seem to have a Dr. Jekyll half. He instead reminded her of a matryoshka doll when he revealed he had smaller versions of himself under his hat. The Clown with the Tear-Away face also freaked her out quite a bit; she had never been a fan of clowns.

But when Harry started yawning and rubbing at his eyes more often, they cut the evening short and Jack once against offered his home to the Potters until a more permanent situation was set up. While Harry was tucked into bed with Zero once again taking up a watchful position, Lily and Sally informed James about the clothing and what Harry had told Sally. To say James was livid was an understatement; if he still had blood flowing through his veins his face would have been near purple. However, his anger manifested in a different way: several items around the room rattled and lifted in the air as he clenched his hands and grit his teeth in anger.

"James!" Lily yelped in alarm as she noticed.

"Huh?" James snapped out of his anger at the sound of her voice, the items crashing to the ground and making him jump at the sound. He blinked as he found the source. "What in the name of Merlin… I haven't done accidental magic since I was a kid."

"Hmmm," Jack had a thoughtful look on his face, tapping his chin, then grinned. "You are turning into a poltergeist!"

"Poltergeist?" James asked sharing a look with Lily. "Like Peeves?"

"I don't know who 'Peeves' is, but you're such a prankster that your powers are changing into that of a poltergeist," Jack explained. James considered his words, and then grinned darkly.

"Perfect. I know just who my first victims will be," he said with a wicked chuckle. Lily sighed and sat beside Sally on the couch.

"I agree that Petunia and her husband need to be punished, but don't kill them, James," she said, fully knowing what her husband was capable of. James snorted and waved his hand.

"Don't worry, Lils, it's funnier just to drive them mad," he said.

"I haven't had a good scarefest in a long time," Jack said as his easygoing skeleton grin widened into a frightening one; the room even seem to darken a bit with a dim fiery light coming from the Pumpkin King.

Something about that stirred James's memories, reminding of some of the old stories his mother told him sometimes when he was very young, telling of a king of fear and nightmares. Seeing Jack as he was now, he wondered just how much of those stories were true…

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he refocused his attention on plotting ways they would punish Harry's abusers. After a few minutes, James turned to his wife as a thought occurred to him.

"Hey, Lily, what scares Petunia the most?"

"Other than being seen as unpopular and abnormal?" Lily asked then hummed as she thought about it. "Well...she hated teddy bears."

"Teddy bears?" James asked, frowning in perplexion. "Why?"

"I don't remember all the details, it was something that happened when we were really little," Lily said as she thought back trying to pull up the hazy memories. "Around Christmas, she always swore that Father Christmas left killer toys. She said the teddy bear she got was weird looking, all stitched together from different cloths and that it had red eyes, claws, and big fangs. There was another toy, too, I think... some black cat toy."

Sally hummed and tilted her head to the side and Jack tapped his chin, those sounded very familiar.

"Tuney use to swear up and down the toys came to life and attacked her. But I don't remember it at all, I was asleep when it happened," Lily continued. "The bear was the one that supposedly attacked her after she picked it up. My parents never believed her, they always swore Tuney got a doll that year."

"I thought that sounded familiar!" Jack said with a snap of his fingers. "That was one of the toys we made here in Halloween Town the year I tried to take over." Lily blinked in surprise, remembering that Jack had in fact told them about the year he found out about Christmas and had tried to take the holiday for himself, only to mess everything up and need Santa to clean up his mess.

"Wait, so all that was true?" she asked, turning to look at the Pumpkin King. Jack shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I visited a lot of homes that night before I was shot out of the sky and realized that I messed everything up," he said. "So your family must have been one of them. It's too bad, too; I thought the toys were delightful."

"But that was in the 60's! The way you were talking about it makes it sound a lot more recent," Lily said. Jack shrugged his shoulders again. (1)

"When you live as long as we do here, time all bleeds together," he said. James just grinned widely as an idea came to him.

"Have you still got any of those toys, Jack, especially that bear?" he asked. "I think we should return Petunia's gift to her." Jack laughed wickedly and clasped James's shoulder.

"We may, Sandy dropped the toys back off after he fixed everything," Jack said. "And if we don't, I'm sure we can recreate it!"

"Perfect," James said with an evil grin. 

* * *

There were plenty of abandoned houses in Halloween Town, as the supposed neglect added to the creepiness of the place, so James and Lily had their pick of where to live. They chose one not too far away from Jack and Sally's home; their pick, like all the other houses around it, was dark and somewhat crooked-looking, looming over them like a classic haunted house from a Muggle film.

James loved it from the start, finding the whole thing amusing. Lily hadn't been as on board with the whole situation, a vocal part of her wishing for something a little less spooky looking to raise Harry in. But that was impossible in a place like Halloween Town and Harry adored the house as much as James did so Lily's protests went away quickly. Still, she was at least determined to spruce the inside up a little bit, give it a bit more color. 

"All right, Harry, which room do you want?" James asked as they entered the house.

"I can pick my own room?" Harry asked in quiet awe, his green eyes wide. Both James and Lily's hearts broke, and their hatred toward the Dursleys for what they had done to their baby boy grew stronger. James knelt down next to Harry and ruffled his hair.

"Of course, Prongslet," he said. "You get your own Big Boy room and we'll make it 100 times greater than your cousin's room. Why don't you go have a look and see which room you like the best."

Harry smiled up at his father brightly then ran for the stairs, climbing them to go see the bed rooms. Once Harry was out of earshot, James stood with a dark scowl on his face.

"The more and more I hear, the angrier I get." A few dusty dishes on the counter rattled a bit to prove James's point. Lily laid her hand on her husband's arm and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I know, love," she said soothingly. "And you'll get to 'play' with them soon. Let's just concentrate on getting set up here first." James sighed and the rattling of the dishes stopped as he calmed, turning his head to smile at Lily.

"Yeah, you're right," he said then looked around sighing again. "There is a lot of stuff I wish we had here, Harry would love some of the wizarding toys Mum kept in storage and we could have hung Mum and Dad's portraits on the walls."

"Is there any way we can get any of that?" Lily asked as she peaked into the cupboards in the kitchen, biting back a scream as a rat jumped out and ran across the floor to a mouse hole. "And maybe new things as well? They have to have imported stuff here, don't they?"

"I'm not sure," James said crossing his arms and looking around. "It looks like they've got a muggle ice box so I'm sure they do, but for the other stuff… the old family estate is locked up. If I can still get in somehow, I can get anything that might be there. But everything else would have been put into the vaults and going to Gringotts will be impossible. They're not going to deal with two corpses, or ghosts, or whatever we are now, and Harry is too young to be allowed into any vaults."

"Well, we can't get anything from Godric's Hollow," Lily sighed angrily; their haunting had quickly revealed that any possessions in the house had either been destroyed during that night or vultures wanting a piece of their baby took it. It was more fuel for her hatred of the whole 'Boy-who-lived' nonsense.

"I just hope someone we trust got our wands, at least," James said. "Not that we seem to really need them much anymore, magic comes so much easier." He proved his point by pointing his finger at the plates on the counter and making them dance drawing a laugh from Lily.

"Show off," she teased. James just grinned and set the plates back down.

"Not as good as you at charms, but I was no slouch either," he replied cheekily.

"Mummy, Daddy," Harry said as he ran back into the room grinning. "I picked me room!"

"Alright, why don't you show us, hmm?" James said letting Harry lead the way back upstairs to show off which room he wanted.

Harry had picked a nice, decently sized room next to what had to be the master bedroom. Harry swore it was better than Dudley's room which could be the imagination of the boy, but his parents agreed anyway and promised to let Harry pick how he wanted it to be decorated as both wanted to spoil Harry a bit and help build up his confidence. There were at least two other rooms on the floor that James looked into.

"I think Padfoot and Moony would like this place," James said to Lily. "They could stay in these rooms until they had their own place if they wanted." He had a look of sadness in his eyes thinking about his two other friends and only other family he had.

"Don't worry, love, we won't let Sirius rot in that horrible place too long," Lily promised him making James smile softly. 

* * *

(1) It's pretty clear that the story we're being told in the movie doesn't happen in the 1990's, the tech in the human world just doesn't match up. I figured it was at least sometime in the 70's or 80's, which was my original intention in timeline placement, but Werejaguar informed me they heard it was confirmed to be in the 60's so I'm going with that. So let's just say that to Halloween Town it feels like it only happened a few years before rather than between 20 to 30 years. Time passes by differently for people who are immortal or dead, after all.


	11. Chapter 11

**The Nightmare Before Hogwarts**

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Author note: Worry for the wait, there was a bit of being sick going around but I've got most of chapter 12 done and 13 is mostly plotted out in my head.

This chapter has been betaed by Werejaguar of Halloween Town

Edit 5-24-18: This chapter betaed a second time by The Patient One.

Chapter 11

For days after Harry's disappearance, Petunia was constantly looking over her shoulder as she was adamantly convinced that wizards were going to appear out of nowhere and ask her where her nephew had gone. Yet as the days went by...nothing happened. No robe-wearing, wand-wielding freaks, no letters delivered by ruddy birds, nothing. Vernon was completely relaxed about the whole thing, taking the absence of any "freakish activity" as a good sign.

Their neighbors didn't question them, either; they didn't even seem to notice that they were one person short in their house. Those who did notice were the ladies that Petunia had over to afternoon tea and a game of Bridge, and they all believed Petunia when she said that a distant cousin of hers offered to take the troublesome boy in. The ladies even sympathized with her, saying how good it was that the little hoodlum was someone else's problem now and they hoped this cousin could bring the boy under control.

The school didn't even question her when Petunia had gone to tell them Harry would no longer be attending classes, telling them the same lie about the mysterious cousin. Instead, they had offered to make copies of Harry's school records, not that there were very many as Harry had only been attending Year 1 of Primary, never going to Nursery or Reception like Dudley had. Petunia had forced a smile on her face and accepted the copies, promising to send them to her 'cousin'. Those copies had gone into the bin as soon as she got home.

Dudley seemed to be the only one who was upset by Harry being gone, not out of any love for the younger boy—heavens, no—but because he now didn't have someone to always pick on anymore.

Yet, despite Petunia's fears, nothing happened even as the days turned into weeks. Things were calm and normal around the house, everything was as it should have been. It was a bit of a hassle to start doing all the chores and cooking again, but as Harry had just barely started doing those, it wasn't hard for Petunia to get back into the swing of things.

A sigh escaped Petunia as she sat at her kitchen table, trying to relax with a nice cup of tea.

"Maybe Vernon is right," Petunia mused to herself. "If nothing has happened by now, then maybe those freaks really don't care about the boy."

She startled as sudden banging sounds came from somewhere in her kitchen, making her drop her cup of tea. The cup shattered as it hit the table, spilling tea all over the surface and on Petunia. She cursed, using words she learned in her youth in Cokeworth that she would never utter where anyone could hear her as she pushed back from the table, scowling at the mess. Letting out a huff of annoyance, Petunia stepped away from the table to grab a kitchen towel to clean the mess up and wondered what in the world that noise was.

"It had to be a mouse, it likely knocked something over in the cupboard," she told herself. "I'll have Vernon call pest control in the morning."

When Petunia turned back to the table, she let out a little startled scream and dropped the towel as her hands raised to her mouth. Her tea cup was no longer shattered into tiny pieces, instead, it sat upright in the middle of the puddle of tea as perfectly whole looking as ever. With trembling fingers, Petunia picked it up and examined the cup looking for any sign that it had been broken, but could find not a single chip or crack anywhere on the ceramic.

"I-It must have been my imagination," Petunia stammered as she quickly put the cup down into the sink then picked up the towel from the floor and wiped the table clean. When she turned back again she paused, eyes wide, when she saw the tea cup sitting on the countertop instead of inside the sink. She shook her head, blond locks bouncing with the motion, and quickly thought to herself she must have placed it on the counter instead of the sink. After all, things don't move by themselves! Or repair themselves!

"Just my imagination," Petunia repeated to herself nervously as she turned away and left the kitchen to sit in the lounge instead, dropping the kitchen towel in the bin on the way out.

"Aunt Petunia?"

She stopped, her breath stuck in her throat and eyes wide as she slowly turned to look at the cupboard under the stairs. She had to be hearing things, the boy was gone! He couldn't be calling her name!

"No. No no no, I've just had a stressful day," she said to herself as she turned away and went into the lounge, sitting in her favorite chair. She took a deep breath and forced herself to lean back and relax. Dudley would be home in a few hours, she would have to make sure his afterschool snack was ready for him. That's what she needed to concentrate on, her Dudders.

"Aunt Petunia? Please, can't I come out?" the voice seemed to drift from the hall right into her ears. Petunia just sat there, eyes shut tight and mind racing in denial.

"I promise to be good, please let me out." This went on for a few more minutes, Harry's voice pleading to her, trail off after a minute or so and then starting again just as she started to relax. Petunia finally broke and sprang up, grabbing the phone and dialing Vernon's office number.

An invisible James laughed to himself as he watched a panicked Petunia tell Vernon that she swore she heard 'the boy' speaking inside the cupboard, but couldn't bring herself to open it. He could faintly hear Vernon's voice on the other end trying to calm her down.

He would have been there a lot sooner to start his revenge against his in-laws, but between getting their new home set up, getting Harry settled, and practicing his new powers, James only recently had found the time. There were still things to do, he hadn't yet tried entering his old family house to see if it was possible.

James had tried to remember all the things Peeves would do while tormenting anyone at Hogwarts, and so far turning invisible was his most useful talent since he didn't have the family cloak. Speaking of, James wondered what happened to it. He had leant it to Dumbledore during the war as a way to help out since he was out of the fighting once he went into hiding with his family. So it was possible, and more than likely, that his old Headmaster still had it.

It should have been placed in Harry's trust vault so he could retrieve it when he turned 11, just as James had when he started Hogwarts. But the man hadn't even followed his and Lily's wills since he placed Harry with the Dursleys, so why would he put the family cloak where it needed to be?

Getting back to the matter at hand, James had practiced and tested out what new abilities he had. Harry delighted in watching James work his magic and it always brought a smile to his face at how happy Harry was by it. James honestly wasn't sure just how he was a poltergeist now as everybody in the wizarding world knew that poltergeists were immortal, meaning they were never a living person to begin with unlike other ghosts. Or at least that's what everyone believed anyway, now James wondered how much of that was true.

Either way, it gave him the perfect way to enact his revenge on the Dursleys, starting small for now. It was fun to see Petunia panic over the tea cup and the sounds he made come out of the cupboard. While Petunia was on the phone, James silently turned all the photos on the mantel above the fireplace upside down. Petunia didn't notice the difference as she sat down again, twisting her skirt in her lap, and flinching when James made Harry's voice come from the cupboard again.

 _'Okay then, I'll just have to get her undivided attention,'_ James thought, nudging a frame to the edge then letting gravity take over so the frame hit the floor. Petunia screamed and jumped at the sudden sound, whipping around to look at the source.

"How…" Petunia asked herself as she stood and went over to pick up the photo. She relaxed slightly as she found that neither the frame nor the glass was broken as she reached up to place the baby photo of her son back on the mantel. It was when her eyes swept the rest of the mantel that her face instantly paled as she saw that every frame was upside-down. Frantically, she began righting them so they stood the correct way.

"Aunt Petunia," Harry's voice pleaded again and Petunia covered her ears.

"Shut up!" she howled, eyes screwed shut and her hands still covering her ears.

 _'Wow, I barely started and she's already cracking,'_ James thought with amusement as he leaned against the wall and let the sound bleed out of the room. He had to see if he could get a pensieve, another thing he hoped might be in his old family home, so he could show Lily. Petunia had finally realized it was quiet again and moved to sit in her chair. James considered starting with the sounds again but held off for now, he didn't want Petunia to crack too soon after all. For now he left her and decided to get a good look around the house.

The house was horribly boring, just so… so Muggle-looking. That didn't really surprise him all that much, not after everything Lily told him about her sister growing up. Petunia wanted to be the opposite of Lily. Lily had been a talented witch so Petunia went for being a boring housewife.

Looking around upstairs not only bored him, it ticked him off, they had bloody four rooms up there! One was obviously Vernon and Petunia's room, then there was a spare bedroom, and a bedroom that had to belong to the youngest Dursley. It was filled to the brim with junk! And then he peeked into the last room…

"And I thought I had been spoiled," James murmured, shaking his head in distaste when he saw even more junk, most of it trash or things that didn't hold Dudley's attention it seemed. Yet for some reason there was a shoddy looking bed, desk, and wardrobe in the room… his anger peaked, and it was a credit to how much he had been practicing his new powers that nothing began shaking.

"You have four rooms in this house, and you make my son sleep in a damn cupboard..." he whispered hatefully.

Forcing his anger down by reminding himself he was avenging his son with his pranks, James considered the fourth room for a moment. Shrugging his shoulders as he came to a conclusion, he started to look through the mess; if the stuff was in this room then obviously the little porker didn't want any of it. Lily might not wholly approve of James taking the stuff but the way he saw it, it was payback for not providing Harry with even the most basic human necessities. Reducing him to a level of care even beneath that of a House Elf!

After sifting for a few minutes, he found that the vast majority of the junk consisted of toys that had been heavily damaged. Aside from that, he found some books that looked like they had never been opened, kiddy art sets that were either as untouched as the books or barely used, and some toys that were less damaged than the rest; a few repair charms would have them good as new. James finished sorting the rejected possessions, transfigured a wooden block into a box, and then shrunk all of the items he picked out for Harry and placed them inside.

As he turned to leave, James did a double-take as something on the bed caught his eye. He picked up the ratty-looking blanket that was half-wedged behind the bed and confirmed his suspicions: it was Harry's blanket, the one that he would sleep with when he was a baby, right down to the monogrammed initials on one corner. Without a second thought, he stowed the blanket into the box; he and Lily would fix it up as good as new for Harry as soon as he returned home.

He scanned the room once more, not wanting to miss anything else that might have come from Godric's Hollow. The wardrobe held numerous garments, all of which had clearly been Dudley's before he outgrew them; most had rips in conspicuous places. The inside of the desk was nasty, every drawer filled with empty candy wrappers and dirty napkins. And though an extra bit of searching let him find a loose floorboard in the room that would make an ideal hiding place, he was unsurprised to find the compartment bare. If his Prongslet had that room, he'd be bound to use that…

James blinked as he thought that, and made a mental note to check their house for similar compartments. Then he left the room, having no doubt that what he took would go unnoticed. He paused on his way back downstairs as he heard a car driving up. A glance out the window revealed Vernon, looking fatter than ever, sitting behind the wheel.

James grinned from ear to ear and hurried back downstairs to 'play' with Petunia again.

* * *

Petunia sat on the edge of her seat waiting for Vernon to get home. She hadn't heard the boy's voice from the cupboard again, but still couldn't bring herself to look inside. When she heard a car drive up, Petunia snapped her gaze to the window and gave a sigh of relief when she saw her husband. Vernon would fix this whole mess.

As Petunia stood to go open the door and greet her husband, she heard once again, "Aunt Petunia, please let me out. It's dark in here." Followed by a thump on the cupboard door. She screamed loudly which had Vernon running into the house, huffing and puffing like an overheated walrus.

"Petunia? What's wrong, Pet?" Vernon said as he tried to calm his wife down.

"The cupboard! The boy is in the cupboard!" Petunia wailed hectically, covering her face with her hands. Vernon puffed up in anger then stomped over to the cupboard door, throwing it open.

Inside was nothing but the cleaning utensils they had put there after cleaning the boy's stuff out. Most of it had been binned sans the mattress and the blanket, which had been returned to Dudley's second bedroom where they belonged.

"Pet, see, come here," Vernon said as he motioned for Petunia to come over. "See, the boy isn't here. No one is here but you."

"But… but, Vernon, I heard him," Petunia said, looking inside the cupboard. Her husband was right, there was no one there.

"There, there, Petunia," Vernon said as he closed the door. "I think the stress of worrying about _those_ people is getting to you. I think you need a nice cuppa, maybe we should get out of the house for the weekend. Just me, you and Duds for a little weekend trip." He guided Petunia into the other room while the invisible and silent James watched with wicked glee. With Vernon and Petunia distracted, James set up a few very minor pranking charms: one to make banging and rattling sounds in the cupboard, one to tap on random windows, and one to make it sound like water was dripping in the master bath when it wasn't.

He would come back and magnify the spells later, but his fun had just begun; right now, he would let Petunia have time to settle down again. No need to break her yet after all, and Vernon's time would come as well. Grinning maliciously at a job well done, James left Number 4 Privet Drive via the magical tunnel in the cupboard, two words on his breath as he returned to Halloween Town:

"Mischief managed."


	12. Chapter 12

**The Nightmare Before Hogwarts**

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Author note: You guys continue to be really awesome and I'm loving all the suggestions that I'm getting for the Dursleys and a lot of them will be worked into the fic. Also I'm going after large Marge so any suggestions for that bitch are welcome too.

The Wolfman doesn't have an official name so I'm using the name that Werejaguar of Halloween Town gave him.

And one quick announcement: while not quite yet, I will be adding both the Addams Family (going mostly by the movies) and the classic movie monsters into this 'verse. I am going with the versions in the two Scooby-Doo films from 1988 as they are the ones I think will fit in best.

This chapter has been betaed Werejaguar of Halloween Town

Edit 5-24-18: This chapter betaed a second time by The Patient One.

Chapter 12

Lily was surprisingly okay with James taking a few of Dudley's discarded toys and books, and had been thrilled that James had found Harry's blanket, repairing everything before presenting it all to Harry. Harry had been in awe of the gifts, having no idea they use to be his cousin's, and had happily put them up in his room with the few macabre toys that the other citizens had gifted Harry with. Lily was still unsure about the guillotine toy, but evidently it was a common plaything in Halloween Town. Jack even said he had one as a child, which brought up many questions on its own.

The undead Potters loved their new home, mostly because they got to be with Harry again. But with their circumstances, the only supplies they could gather were either morbid, Halloween-themed, or both. Lily remained concerned about the food that she fed her son, even if Harry didn't seem to mind the strange-looking food at all.

James still had yet to go to his old family home, having planned on doing so soon with Lily and maybe Jack, who was curious about seeing a Wizarding home outside of the ones that existed in the afterlife. But now that he had begun tormenting the Dursleys—and consequently grown proficient opening the way between the mortal world and Halloween Town—the next priority on the wizard's agenda was the other Marauders and how to find/break them out of the hellholes they were currently in.

Remus Lupin, a.k.a. Moony, had been the bookworm of the group. He was also a werewolf, something he and the others discovered by their second year of Hogwarts. With great effort and no regard for the Wizarding laws, James and the other two had learned how to become Animagi, achieving the transformation by 5th year so they could keep Remus company during the full moons. It was hard to tell where Remus might be now; James knew Remus preferred not to associate with any of the werewolf packs in the Wizarding world, and he heard nothing about his friend from the other witches and wizards he met in the Land of the Dead.

Sirius Black, a.k.a. Padfoot, had been the bad boy and a larger prankster than even James was. He came from one of the darkest families in England, but rejected their teachings and became one of the few gray sheep of the family. His animagus form was a huge, black dog, just as effective as James's stag form at keeping the werewolf at bay if it proved necessary. Sirius's location was the only one of the three that he knew: he was locked up in the magical prison Azkaban for supposedly being a supporter of Voldemort and betraying the Potters. James had no intention of leaving his best mate in that hellhole any longer than he had to. But he had nowhere to start in regards to planning a breakout from a wizarding prison that nobody had ever escaped from before, guarded by a horde of the only creatures in the world that he still felt threatened by as an undead poltergeist. So he reluctantly shelved that idea for now.

Lastly was Peter Pettigrew, the real traitor and rat Animagus. James had no idea where to even start with that one, Wormtail could be hiding anywhere as a rat, so he was deemed unimportant…for now.

So everything circled back around to Remus and how to locate his werewolf friend.

"We could send him an owl?" Lily suggested.

"Do they even have owls here?" James asked, then added, "Even if they do, Moony would never believe any letter from us; even if we didn't grow up learning the phrase 'no magic can raise the dead,' he wouldn't believe an owl that came out of nowhere telling what happened to us in the last few weeks. _I_ still don't believe it."

"Alright, so what do we do, then?" Lily said as she propped her chin in her hand. James leaned back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest and a thoughtful look on his face.

"Hey, what about that werewolf guy that lives here?" He said after a few minutes.

"What about him?" Lily asked.

"Maybe he knows how to find another werewolf?" James suggested. "Do werewolves have a network they can connect with each other with?"

"How do you know that would even work?" Lily asked.

"I don't have a better idea, do you?" James asked back. Lily sighed and shook her head.

"No… well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask him," she said.

"Let's round up Harry and go find him, then," James said, standing and heading upstairs.

Harry was in his room, lying in the middle of a black, fluffy rug drawing with the art stuff James brought him, his little feet kicking back and forth and a look of innocent joy on his face. The sight warmed both of their long-stilled hearts.

"Hey there, Prongslet, want to go out with Mummy and me?"

"Where we going?" Harry asked, the art stuff forgotten as he eagerly jumped up and ran over to James, slipping his little hand into his daddy's. The coolness of James and Lily's dead flesh didn't bother him at all.

"We're going to go find that werewolf guy," James explained as they headed down the stairs where Lily waited for them by the front door. "We're hoping he might help us find a friend of mine."

"Why? Can he sniff him out like a doggy?" Harry asked.

"Well, no," James said as he knelt by Harry. "See Daddy's friend is a werewolf, too. His name is Remus, but we called him Moony."

"You talks about him and a Padfoot a lot," Harry said with a nod.

"That's right. See, son, a lot of people don't like werewolves and it makes Moony very sad. But me and Padfoot weren't scared of Moony and we all became best friends," James explained. "But after we died, Moony is all alone now and I bet he's very sad. So we want him to come live here with all of us."

"Whats about Padfoot? How comes he's not living with Moony?" Harry asked. James sighed sadly and ruffled Harry's hair.

"Someone put Padfoot in jail. You know what that is?" James asked. Harry nodded and twisted his hands in his shirt.

"It's where bad people go. Uncle Vernon says bad kids can also go the jail so I had to be extra good," Harry said.

"Baby, no one puts children in jail," Lily said. "Not like this and you are a very good boy."

"Yes, Mummy," Harry said smiling up at Lily then looked at James again. "Why is he in jail? Did he do something bad?"

"No, Prongslet, Padfoot was wrongly put in jail, they thought he did something that he didn't do and the person who did it ran away," James said. "So because of that he can't be with Moony, at least right now."

"Oh," Harry said tilting his head to the side and had that thoughtful look at only children could have. "Okay, I hope Padfoot is let go when he didn't do anything wrong."

"We're working on that," James said with a grin and stood, taking Harry's hand again. "But first we have to help Moony."

"Okay," Harry said swinging James's hand as they left.

In short order, they reached the town square. A handful of civilians were out and about: Ethan and his friends were leaning against the side of the town hall, talking and munching on snacks; Behemoth the gardener was shuffling off towards the pumpkin patch with half a dozen bags of fertilizer in his arms; and Jack himself was kneeling by the fountain, filling up a few crystal bottles with the flowing green liquid.

"Ah, good morning, my friends!" the skeleton perked up as he saw them. "What brings you here?"

"Good morning, Jack," Lily greeted politely. "James and I have been trying to think of a way to find a friend of ours on the outside and bring him here. It wouldn't be as simple as just sending an owl; Remus would never believe that we were able to contact him from beyond the grave."

"He's a werewolf, Jack," James picked up. "So I was wondering if that Wolfman guy would be able to help us."

Jack hummed in thought as he looked around the square. "Possibly. He would know the details better than I would for this." He continued looking around before perking up as he spied the Wolfman making his way through the square at a leisurely pace.

"Excuse me, Glenn! Do you have a moment?" Jack called. The Wolfman's ears rose and he turned toward them, making his way over immediately.

"What is it, Jack?" the Wolfman asked in a gravelly voice. Harry shyly hid his face into James's shoulder, the Wolfman was a little scary close up. He was stout and hunch over, wearing a torn up plaid shirt and no pants but covered in thick, bristly fur.

"The Potters would like a quick chat with you," Jack said, gesturing to the witch and wizard.

"Excuse our interruption," Lily said with an apologetic smile. "But we are hoping you might be able to help us with something, Mr…Glenn, was it?"

"Yeah," the Wolfman growled. "So what do you need?"

"Ruff ruff!" Harry perked up when he heard Zero and spotted the ghost dog entering the square.

"Daddy, can I go play with Zero?" he asked.

"Sure, champ," James said. Letting him down, he grabbed a pebble off the road and changed it into a small ball, then handed it to his son. Harry grinned happily and ran over to Zero.

"Look, Zero, want to play?" he asked showing Zero the ball. Zero barked happily and flipped in the air, his sheet wagging excitedly. Harry giggled and tossed the ball, watching as Zero took off after it.

"See it's like this, one of my best mates in school was a werewolf," James started explaining, giving the werewolf his attention. "It was kept a secret to everyone but the professors and the school staff, but me and my other best mate figured it out after a couple of years knowing him. Knowing him—Remus is his name by the way—he's pretty much isolated himself from the Wizarding world since we died."

"We would love to find him and bring him here, it would do him a lot of good," Lily added. "But we don't really know of a way to do that. We can't really just send him a letter or show up where he is right now, not as we are."

Glenn considered them for a moment, scratching at a couple of fleas that had gotten into his fur.

"Tell me about your friend," he said at last. James just grinned and started talking about Remus, how smart the other man was and how he had been a prankster right along himself, his other best mate Sirius and Pettigrew. Glenn let him go on for several minutes before asking another question.

"How did he get turned into a werewolf? Doubt he was born that way."

"He doesn't like to talk about it but when he was a kid, Fenrir Grayback bit him," James said. He flinched back a bit as Glenn growled loudly. "I take it you know him."

"I know him alright. Going around attacking and turning kids, making most werewolves look bad," Glenn spat as his fur bristled. "Even my brother is appalled by him and he works for Dracula."

"Dracula?" Lily asked perking up. "As in Count Dracula, like in the books?"

"I don't know how much he's like in that book that Stoker guy wrote, but yeah, he's the real deal," Glenn said. "Okay, so you want me to help get in touch your friend."

"That's the gist of it," Lily said with a small shrug. "Honestly, the only other option we can think of is taking the chance of sending an owl."

"What's a bird got to do with it?" Glenn asked.

"We use owls, and sometimes other types of birds, to deliver mail for us," James explained. "Owl post, we call it. But let's face it, even if we could get our hands on a post owl, Moony isn't gonna believe it's from us what with being dead and all."

Glenn nodded slowly. "Alright. I haven't gone for a good run in the other world in a long time," Glenn said. "I'll help you look for yer friend. Got any ideas where I'd find him, or even what the guy looks like."

"I've got a few ideas where he might be, I know he won't return to his old family home. He's on some sorta outs with his father. But there are some places he might go and I have a few ideas of where he'd go during a full moon. Though if all else fails, he'd probably take an owl from a fellow werewolf that wanted to talk about things," James said before giving his ideas of where Remus might go and what the man looked like.

Harry ran over a few minutes later, hiding behind Lily. They heard yelling behind them at the same time and turned to see Jack telling off three kids who had frightened looks on their faces before hightailing it out of there. One had on a red devil costume, another was dressed as a witch, and the last had a skeleton outfit on.

"What in the name of Merlin?" Lily asked as she picked up Harry, cuddling her baby close to her. Glenn gave an annoyed growl and shook his head.

"Those three," he said with a grunt. "That was Lock, Shock, and Barrel."

"I've heard those names before, I think," James said as he stepped closer to Lily and rubbed Harry's back, feeling the boy trembling under his hand.

"They're the town's resident trick-or-treaters, and they're nasty pieces of work," Glenn explained, his lip curling in disgust. "Used to be that we called them 'Boogie's boys,' they worked for that bug-filled trash heap Oogie while he was still around. They don't come to town often and they're harmless as long as Jack is nearby; he keeps a tight watch on them. But they're still sadistic pranksters whenever they get the chance. Don't trust them any, and keep an eye on them if you see them."

"Thanks for the warning," James said with a frown. "Okay there, Prongslet?"

"They were mean kids like Dudley," Harry said as he hugged Lily around the neck.

"Well, with snots like that, sometimes you gotta let them know you won't let them push you around," James said. "But we'll tackle that another day."

"Come on, sweetheart, let's go home," Lily said, thanking Glenn and then carrying Harry off. James at the same time walked over to Jack, who was standing in the middle of the town square with his bony arms crossed over his chest, still glaring in the direction that the trio took off in.

"Thanks, mate, for standing up for my kid," James said as he stood beside Jack. Jack shook his skull slightly then sighed.

"Those three," he muttered. "They'll behave for a while, then they'll come back to cause trouble. It's not the causing trouble that annoys me, it's that they carry it too far and don't care that someone gets hurt, sometimes doing it on purpose."

Processing Jack's words, James mused about his days at Hogwarts, when he and his friends became the infamous Marauders, reflecting on the many pranks they pulled during their seven years. The student they targeted the most was Severus Snape. And yes, James knew many of their pranks went too far, coming to a head with the incident with Sirius's prank using Remus's werewolf form.

That had brought into focus just how bad James and his friends had become with bullying Snape. Of course, the greasy git hadn't been any sort of innocent snowflake, he had gotten them back just as hard for the pranks and they had caught him many times bullying younger years, especially Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs. So it had been bad on both sides, though James had grown up out of that, even if he still loved playing pranks. Snape, on the other hand, had become a Death Eater.

"I know a little about that," James said finally. Then he added, "But they had better not try to hurt my kid again, they won't like me if they do." There was a dark note of warning in his voice that had Jack nodding.

"As long as you don't kill them," he said then left. James chuckled darkly as he headed home; he knew many ways to make someone miserable without killing them.

***********

 **Several minutes before…**

"Is that him?" Barrel asked as he peeked around the wall with his two partners in crime.

"It's gotta be," Lock said with a flick of his tail.

"Well, he is the only new kid around here, you dummies," Shock said with a roll of her eyes.

"Who you calling a dummy?" Lock asked as he turned and hit Shock in the shoulder. She retaliated by hitting Lock back, knocking him to the ground. Lock growled and grabbed the girl by the leg, pulling her down with him, straddling Shock as he began choking her. Shock grabbed Lock's pitchfork and stabbed him in the side, making him yelp and get off her. Zero turned briefly in their direction when he heard Lock's yelp of pain but didn't investigate as the troublesome trio was hidden from sight.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel had just come out of their sugar coma after consuming much of the candy they had racked up on Halloween night and decided it was high time to cause a little mischief in the town. Once they arrived, hiding from everyone else in the town, they caught up on the news that a witch kid had shown up during the yearly celebrations and that an undead couple had joined the town. Immediately they had dismissed the new adults and focused on the new kid. He hadn't been hard to find, as small as the community was a new face always stood out.

Barrel studied the new kid, ignoring Lock and Shock as they continued to fight behind him. The kid had wild black hair, bright green eyes, and wasn't much taller than the three of them. Skinny, too, like a witches broom, Oogie wouldn't have bothered eating the kid as he didn't have any meat on his bones. If the kid was here alone, maybe he could join their gang? He was a witch, right? That meant he could do magic! Even Shock had trouble doing magic!

When Barrel posed the suggestion to Lock and Shock, they paused in their fighting to consider it. Then both of them grinned and cackled.

"I think we should go welcome the new kid," Lock said as he and Shock stood, brushing the dirt off their costumes and grabbing their masks. "After all, that's the 'nice' and 'neighborly' thing to do."

"And we're always 'nice' and 'neighborly'," Shock added as she and Lock shared a smirk then slid their form fitting masks on. Barrel grinned widely and pulled his down as well as he followed his partners out into the square.

Meanwhile, Harry had tired of his game of catch and was standing on his tiptoes to look into the fountain in the middle of the square. He liked the creepy looking dragon statue and was reaching toward the greenish water that poured out of its mouth.

"Hey there!" a boy's voice said behind Harry making him jump in surprise and spin around. Zero growled when he saw the trio, moving closer to Harry's side. Harry came face to face with three children, one was a boy wearing a red suit on with a faded red mask with a wide grin and sharp teeth. The second, a girl, was wearing a faded purple dress and a tall witch's hat with a black band, and a green mask with a scowl and a large hooked nose. The third was also a boy wearing a black shirt and pants that had what looked like bones on the outside, his mask was white with a large grin of yellow teeth.

"Umm… hi?" Harry said, unsure as he hadn't met these kids before.

"You're new around here, aren't cha?" the girl asked as she and the other two started to circle around Harry like sharks.

"We heard you crashed the yearly celebration on Halloween," the boy in the red suit said. "Pretty cool."

"I didn't crash it," Harry said with a confused frown as he didn't know what that meant.

"Sure you did, pretty impressive," red suit said again.

"Umm… who are you?" Harry asked as he slowly turned with them trying to keep all three in sight, something he learned from having to deal with Dudley.

"We're the town's cool kids," said the short boy with the skeleton suit.

"Lock," the red suit kid took off his mask.

"Shock," the girl did the same.

"And Barrel," the last kid said, doing the same as the first then taking out a red and black lollipop and taking a lick from it then held it out. "Want some candy?"

"Umm…" Harry didn't really answer, getting a bad vibe from the three kids.

"Well, too bad, get your own!" Lock said while Barrel snatched the offered candy back, all three of them laughing. Harry started to edge away but Lock stopped him by wrapping his arm around Harry's shoulder. "So, we hear you can do magic."

"Do a trick!" Shock said as she looked around the square and saw two corpses she didn't recognize talking to that flea bag Wolfman. "Something to them over there."

"I'm not going to do that," Harry said as he ducked out from under Lock's arm. "That's not nice."

"Come on, it'll be fun," Lock said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's just a trick."

"I'm not going to do that to my mummy and daddy," Harry said with a shake of his head.

"Mummy and daddy?" the trio asked looking at each other.

"Those are your parents?" Lock asked pointing at Lily and James.

"They're kinda dead," Barrel said.

"They're still my parents," Harry said defensively. "And I don't know any magic yet anyway."

"What kind of witch doesn't know magic?" Shock asked. "Seems pretty useless to me."

"I bet he's just a big crybaby," Lock agreed. Zero lunged at Lock, barking loudly. Lock cackled as he dodged Zero's lunge.

"I've got a trick," Shock said. "Let's dump him in the fountain."

"Yeah, he needs a bath," Barrel agreed. Harry gulped, eyes darting around as he looked for a way to escape as the three surrounded him, grabbing onto the frightened boy. The next instant, Jack was looming over them.

"Unhand him!" he snarled in his most frightening dark tone. Lock, Shock, and Barrel gasped and turned, cowering in fright when they saw the Pumpkin King behind him in all his dark glory. Harry took this chance to dart off to the safety of his mother.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on him ever again, you leave him alone. If I catch you three bullying Harry again, I'm going to make what I did to the three of you for that Seven Holidays King nonsense look like child's play! NOW SCRAM!"

Boogie's boys didn't need to be told twice as they turned and ran out of the town to the safety of their tree house.


	13. Chapter 13

**The Nightmare Before Hogwarts**

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

This chapter has been betaed by Werejaguar of Halloween Town

Edit 5-24-18: This chapter betaed a second time by The Patient One.

 **Chapter 13**

The Potter family cemetery had had little use in recent generations, as the Potters had been buried at St Jerome's graveyard in Godric's Hollow a few miles away. There had been some consideration of relocating those laid to rest and turning the cemetery into something more practical, and while James had been all for it in his lifetime, he was eternally grateful in his un-lifetime that it had been left untouched.

After all, the still-standing graveyard was what allowed him to enter the grounds of the ancestral Potter home. Lily was supposed to originally come with them, but instead had opted out to stay in Halloween Town to properly meet the witch sisters who kept insisting they wanted Harry as an apprentice of sorts. This left only Jack to travel with him.

"Looks the same as it always did, just a little shabbier… I haven't set a foot in here since my parent's death," James said quietly.

"How did they die?" Jack asked as they headed towards the house.

"Dragon Pox... When Lils was pregnant with Harry…so they never got to meet him," James said solemnly. "Couldn't bring myself to live here after that, though I wish I did. The wards here are strong, it might have been safer than Godric's Hollow. But then again...maybe not. Death Eaters have gotten into older places and with stronger wards than here."

"Death Eaters?" Jack asked curiously. "What a funny name, how does one 'eat' death?"

"That was what Voldemort's followers were called," James explained. Then he saw the perplexed look in Jack's eye sockets, and added, "The dark wizard who killed us and tried to kill Harry, he called himself Lord Voldemort."

"Voldemort," Jack repeated carefully, as if analyzing it. "'Flight from death', it makes it sound like he feared it."

"Well, if he did, then he was too good at hiding it," James said with a snort. "Me and Lily fought against him three different times, he was insanely powerful… and he's still somewhere out there."

"What?" Jack asked in shock. "But I thought he was gone."

"He's not making everyone's lives a living nightmare anymore—no offense, Jack."

"None taken," the skeleton assured him.

"—but if he had died when Lily's magic saved Harry, he would have wound up in the Land of the Dead right behind us. And he didn't. Which can only mean that he's still somewhere out there."

James paused as they reached the back door that led into the kitchen when Jack grabbed his shoulder, his empty eyeholes boring into James's eyes.

"Among your magic… are there methods to achieve immortality?"

James frowned. "…I only know of one guaranteed method: the Philosopher's Stone. It was a myth for the longest time until Nicholas Flamel made one. The stone can turn any metal to gold and it produces the Elixir of Life, which prolongs the drinker's life inevitably. Nicholas and his wife have used it to stay alive for centuries now, but he keeps it under tight guard. I'd bet anything that the Dark side of magic has a few ways to fight off death, but I wouldn't know."

Jack nodded slowly. "And this Flamel, what does he do?"

"Ah… I think that he's just enjoying a quiet life with his wife and his studies," James responded in confusion.

Jack nodded, his expression lightening a bit. "It's just that Grim isn't fond of resistance, but the less trouble he's causing with his longer-than-it-should-be life, the less likely it is that Grim will have him high up on the harvest list."

James considered continuing the conversation but refocused his attention on the house. "We'll pick this up later. For now…"

The wizard wasn't sure if the wards would still recognize him, dead as he was, but he sighed in relief as he felt the wards pass over him when he touched the door. "We're in luck, even with me dead the house is letting us in."

The door swung open with a loud creak and the once-dead sconces on the wall flared to life, filling the room with light and the scent of burning dust and cobwebs. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust, and the curtains rattled and swayed, likely infested with Doxies.

"Well, the wards keeping pests away didn't last," James sighed as he eyed the curtains. "It'll take an army of House Elves to clean this place if Harry takes up living here when he's grown."

"So, what are we looking for?" Jack asked as he poked the curtains, laughing as a Doxy darted out and bit a bony finger. It had a surprised look on its face as Jack held up his hand to get a better look. "What is this?"

"Doxy, little pests is what they are," James said. "They're related to fairies, venomous, but I guess that doesn't affect you any."

"May I take a few back?" Jack asked poking the Doxy with his other hand. The Doxy had had enough and let go of Jack, darting back into the drapes.

"Well, I certainly don't want them here," James said, thinking to himself how they—Lily and himself—would have to ward the house against the little buggers. It certainly wouldn't do to have them biting Harry, now, would it?

Jack beamed happily, he loved these new creatures and was already thinking of ways they could fit into a future Halloween. "I'm sure there is a cage somewhere we can put the buggers in. Now, where was I… ah, yes, what are we searching for?" Jack asked again as they moved out of the kitchen.

"First, Dad's office, I know he kept some money there," James said as he traced the old route to the office used by Fleamount Potter when he was alive. "Then we'll see what we can find in the attic, and maybe grab some books from the library,"

The portraits on the wall were covered with dusty film, giving no witness to the passage of the two undead through their home and emphasizing that there were no House Elves on the property. The elderly pair that used to work for the Potters had passed away around the same time as James's parents. Nobody was there to witness as James and Jack moved through the house. Nobody but the pests.

When they reached the office, James took a moment to look it over. The room looked so empty now; his father's large wooden desk was bare except for an old oil lamp and a dried up inkwell. The shelves that lined the walls stood empty, all the books moved to either the library or Gringotts. The rest of the furniture and the portraits were covered with dust cloths…

James shook his head and then walked over to the far wall, pulling a dust cloth down. Under it was a portrait of a unicorn next to a pond, a man in patchwork blue clothing leaning against the unicorn's side. Both were asleep, and they remained asleep as James pulled the painting open to reveal the wall behind it.

James placed his hand against the wall then recited, " _There are no happy endings, because nothing ends_ ". A section of the wall shimmered and then changed into a safe that James opened, barely giving a glance before scooping out a few clearly marked bags of galleons, sickles, and knuts.

"There, this should last us for a while," he said as he dropped the bags into a mokeskin bag that was also inside the vault. The vault was then closed and portrait pushed back into place, the dust cloth flying back up with a wave of James's hand.

"Attic next, can't wait to see what sort of pests have moved in there," James said with a roll of his eyes as he locked the office door.

"It's a nice house, but it could use a few more spider webs," Jack mused as they moved upstairs. James just laughed, the king of Halloween would think that.

"Most wizards wouldn't agree with you, mate," James said, stopping a moment outside the door and pushing it open. "My old room… Should have been Harry's if we lived here…"

"There's no sense of lingering on regrets," Jack said as he laid a bony hand on James's shoulder. "Trust me when I say I speak from experience."

James sighed and pulled the door shut, staring unseeingly at the wood grain before moving to a door at the end of the hallway.

"I know… Still… I can't help but wish we did something different. That we moved here instead of moving from house to house, not trusting Pettigrew, maybe even leaving here all together. We knew that madman was after our son, yet we couldn't bring ourselves to leave," James trailed off as he opened the door to the attic.

It was dark, the large round window at the end of the topmost level of the house so covered in dirt that barely any light shone through. James conjured a quick Lumos spell and had it hanging above them as they walked.

"Mum bought a bunch of toys for Harry when she learned Lily was pregnant, it was her first grandchild after all, but most of them were either destroyed that Halloween night or stolen. And Harry would be too old for that stuff anyway...she never got the chance to buy older kid toys," James started shifting through boxes. "But she should have packed away some of my old toys somewhere up here."

Jack walked around, curiously poking at various items and boxes. At the far end of the room was an old wardrobe that rocked side to side as Jack neared it.

"There's something in here," Jack called. James abandoned the box he had been poking through and walked over to see what Jack was talking about.

"Must be a Boggart," James said. "They like dark places."

"Oh, now I _do_ know about Boggarts! I haven't seen one in years," Jack said brightly as he reached to open the door.

"Wait!" James tried to stop Jack, but was much too late as the doors slammed open.

Out of the wardrobe rolled Harry, dead to the world without a breath in his body. James's body seized, brown eyes wide and if his heart wasn't still it would be beating wildly. He knew that Harry was alive and well in the back of his mind, but the shock of seeing his little boy dead chased away any thought of using the counter-spell against the creature.

In truth, this only lasted about three seconds; the moment that Jack processed the situation, he hooked his bony fingers into his mouth and pulled his face into a petrifying expression, letting his magic flare up around him as he leaned over the Boggart and roared unholy.

The Boggart squealed in fear, instantly losing the form of a dead Harry with a pop. James felt like a marionette with his strings cut as he fell to the ground and landed on his arse with wide eyes, his glasses askew on his face.

"What the bloody hell?!" he yelped. There was no more horrible illusion of Harry to be seen, but now standing in front of the open wardrobe was a downright ugly pint-sized creature that stood on cloven hoofs, covered in a thick, dirty, shaggy, brown fur and had tiny spiral horns on its head, goat-like ears, eyes as wide as saucers and a long whip-like tail. It was cowering in fight, gibbering in a language James didn't understand. (1)

"You should be ashamed of yourself, taking on a form like that," Jack was back to normal looking, looming over the Boggart as he firmly scolded it, jabbing a bony finger. "A little harmless fear is fine, but that went too far! Now apologize to your host." Jack pointed at James.

The Boggart whimpered but moved to stand in front of James, its shoulders hunched around its ears. It gibbered something in that other language, truly looking sorry as it toed the floor with a hoofed foot. James took noticed that when it talked, it sounded like multiple voices speaking at once, all in that gibbering language.

"Bloody hell…" James said in disbelief. "Is that what a Boggart really looks like?" No one knew what a Boggart looked like, as shape shifters they were only seen in the form of a person's worst fear or whatever humorous shape the Riddikulus charm forced it into, never in their true form. James would have never guessed it looked like a strange cross between a gremlin and a satyr. It was almost cute…in an ugly sorta way.

"Yes, and it's very sorry for causing you stress," Jack said his arms crossed over his chest and tapping his foot, giving the Boggart a pointed look. "Aren't you." The Boggart quickly nodded its head, its already wide eyes seeming to become even wider.

"Merlin… no one is going to believe this," James laughed as he stood, brushing the dirt off his pants. Was he mad about what had just happened? Yes, of course he was, at least somewhat. He hadn't even been sure a Boggart could still affect him; after all, what could he have to fear? He was already dead so he couldn't be killed, or physically hurt. No, James's only fear was Harry's wellbeing. So yes, seeing the Boggart as his dead baby boy made him angry. But he also knew that was the Boggart's nature and it couldn't help it, and oddly enough it really did look regretful.

"Alright fine, I forgive you," the wizard nodded. "Just don't go changing into that ever again."

The Boggart gave James and Jack a grin, mouth full of sharp fangs. Jack looked satisfied and was smiling again, the same type of grin Jack had when he saw the Doxies.

"Oh, Merlin, you want it as well, don't you?" James laughed. "Whatever, mate, it's your realm." He shook his head and went back to continue his search through the boxes.

James finally found a bunch of his old toys in the corner of the attic, of which he had a lot to choose from as a very spoiled only child born late in his parents' life. James picked out one of the many trunks in the attic, emptying it of its contents and putting some of the toys he thought Harry would like inside. Old stuffed animals that would need their animation charms refreshed; a set of wizarding dolls that featured the likes of Merlin, Morgan le Fay, and even the Hogwarts founders; gobstones and exploding snap cards; and some wizarding board games. Thankfully, the Boggart was the only surprise in the attic; Jack had kept it entertained while James worked.

A further search revealed a selection of child brooms that were still in excellent condition despite their age; the elder Potters had spared no expense on buying the best brooms on the market. James clearly remembered how Harry loved flying; the baby toy broom Sirius got him had been his favorite toy of all, flying it all around the house and scaring the life out of Lily's cat. James absently wondered what had happened to the cat, he had no idea if it had been killed during that Halloween night or if it had escaped.

"Alright, done here," James said snapping the trunk close and casting a wandless floating charm on it, having it follow behind James.

"We may have a bit of a problem," Jack said. "The Boggart is insisting we bring the wardrobe too."

"Why?" James asked with a raised eyebrow. The Boggart was crossing its arms over its chest as it stood protectively in front of the wardrobe.

"It claims that it's its home," Jack explained. James sighed and shook his head, the Boggart's home indeed, then took a closer look at the wardrobe. He didn't really remember this one, not that he went around memorizing the furniture in his childhood home. If it was up here then he figured that no one really wanted it.

"Fine, I'll shrink it and bring it with us then," he offered. The Boggart seemed to consider this and nodded its head eagerly. James sighed again, an amused smirk on his lips, and shrunk the wardrobe down to doll size and tossed it into the trunk.

The last stop was the library where James loaded up several books that would be useful for Harry and those they could use. Lily told him about the spot of darkness she felt in Harry's scar and they wanted to figure out what it was and what had really happened to Voldemort. Also in the library was an old birdcage his mother use to keep songbirds in, which James handed over to Jack who happily stuffed the disgruntled Doxies into.

Night had fallen by the time everything was said and done, and as they left the Potter homestead, the wards snapped back into place behind them.

************

Helgamine and Zeldaborne's shared house looked like, at least in Lily's internal opinion, a stereotypical witch's house like in a book or film; nothing like any of the wizarding houses she been in, but more along the lines of what Muggles would think a witch's house might look like. It was dark, covered in dust and spider webs, with shelves everywhere stuffed with ingredient jars, potions bottles, spellbooks, and skulls. Empty cages hung from the ceiling and in the middle of the room sat a cauldron over a roaring fire that brewed a potion that she'd never seen the likes of. And considering that she was skilled enough in the subject that she could have gotten a mastery of it, that was saying something.

Candles sat everywhere in tall, gothic candelabras or on top of the skulls, giving the room an eerie glow. They even had a black cat curled up on a table, which Harry was gently petting as the feline purred steadily. It made Lily miss her own cat.

"So why exactly do you want to teach Harry so badly?" Lily asked turning to face the witch sisters.

"He's powerful," Zeldaborne said from where she stood on top of a tall stool so she could stir the potion.

"It would be a crime not to teach him magics that haven't been seen in years," Helgamine added as she dumped what looked like…toes...into the cauldron. "That he's the 'Boy-Who-Lived' is even better."

"So… you know what is going on in the Wizarding World?" Lily asked as she sat down beside Harry at the table. His head was pressed against the cat's side, giggling as he listened to its purr.

"Of course we do," Helgamine said. "We're still witches and we need to pick up fresh ingredients we can't get here."

"And we like to keep up with the gossip," Zeldaborne added. "We've gone back and forth between the Wizarding World and this world since we were brought here by Jack."

"How long have you been here?" Lily asked curiously.

"Oh… Since the Salem witch trials," Helgamine said after thinking about it for a few minutes. Lily blinked in surprise and gaped.

"That was nearly 300 years ago!" She exclaimed. "You're that old?"

"Yep, look good for our age, don't we?" Zeldaborne snickered with a wink.

"The magic of this place changed us. It changes most everyone to some extent," Helgamine explained. "We're tied to the holiday itself, in all its forms."

"That has made us near immortals," Zeldaborne tapped the comically large wooden spoon against the edge of the cauldron. "It's a hell of a lot better than what we went through in Salem."

"You were a part of the witch trials," Lily guessed.

"Of course," Helgamine said. "Lived a pretty peaceful life, kept to ourselves in the forest."

"Then those damnable Sanderson sisters mucked everything up," Zeldaborne spat.

"Who?" Lily asked, looking over at Harry as he got up to explore. "Sweetheart, don't touch anything."

"Okay, Mummy," Harry said.

"The Sanderson sisters, Winifred and her two idiot younger sisters Sarah and Mary," Helgamine dipped a finger into the potion then stuck it in her mouth to taste it. "Hmm… needs more pickled aconite." (2)

"Hey, boy, hand me that jar there," Zeldaborne pointed at a jar sitting on one of the side tables. Lily watched Harry pick it up and cradle it close to his chest to carry it over to the shorter witch. A handful of the pickled aconite was tossed in after Harry handed over the jar. "Awful wench she was, that Winifred, sold her soul to the devil, she did."

"Had a powerful spell book, claim the devil gave it to her," Helgamine was over at the shelves tossing bottles and jars over her shoulders. "Dark magic in that book, I was always kinda jealous."

"Then Winifred got it into her head one day that it was a good idea to kidnap a couple of the kids from Salem, stole the life force of one of them to make her and those two idiot sisters of hers younger and no one knows what happen to the other one," Zeldaborne caught one of the flying jars, popped the top and dumped whatever it was inside into the cauldron. The potion let off a large booming puff of colored smoke, rolling violently in the cauldron until another ingredient was poured inside.

"That got the town's people riled up and they really started up their witch hunting," Helgamine seem to find what she was looking for as she came over with a jar in each hand. Harry found the witch's brooms leaned up against the wall, glancing over at the women who didn't seem to be paying attention to them, then picked one up.

"We were some of the unlucky ones," Zeldaborne grabbed a jar out of her sister's hand. "We were set to be hanged when we were caught, but luckily for us, Jack was in town. He took a liking to us and offered us a place here."

"We would have been stupid not to take up that offer," Helgamine said. Harry's laughter caught all their attention as he flew past them on the broom then raced around the room.

"Oh Merlin!" Lily yelled as she jumped up. "Harry James Potter!"

"Mummy, look, brooms really do fly!" Harry giggled.

"The boy's got good control," Helgamine said as she ducked when Harry buzzed past her.

"He loved to play on the toy broom his godfather got him for his birthday when he was a baby," Lily said with a sigh, watching as Harry flew past the cat whom arched its back, hissing then moved to hide under the table. Lily was hit with a wave of nostalgia as she remembered those tense yet carefree days when they were a little family trying to get what enjoyment they could while hiding from a certain dark lord. A baby Harry on a broom had terrorized her cat back then too but he had been so happy. Even so, however…

"Harry, come down here right now," Lily said sternly, pointing at the ground.

Harry seemed to realize that he made his mother mad and the broom floated to the floor slowly. He climbed off and walked over with his head bowed. Lily knelt and pulled Harry closer to her, stroking his hair.

"Sweetheart, you shouldn't just pick up another person's broom like that and start flying around, especially not in a house," she scolded softly.

"I'm sorry, Mummy," Harry said in a whisper.

"I know, baby, I'm not mad, I just don't want you to get hurt," Lily said as she moved to sit at the table again holding Harry in her lap, rocking him gently. "That was a very dangerous thing to do; you're too small for a big person broom. Next time you should ask if it is alright, you don't take other people's stuff okay?"

"'kay," Harry said, sniffing softly.

"Now go apologize," Lily said watching as Harry climbed off her lap and shuffled over to the sisters.

"'m sorry," he said, twisting his hands in his shirt, a nervous habit of his.

"No harm done, boy," Helgamine awkwardly patted the top of his head, making Harry shyly look up.

"Your mother is right, little unsafe in the house, but you didn't break anything," Zeldaborne agreed as she started stirring the potion again. "We'll call this one even."

Harry gave a shy little smile as he was forgiven and ran back over to Lily, snuggling close as she picked him up. She kissed the top of his head and mused that Harry would have plenty of opportunities to fly; there was no doubt that her broom-crazy husband would be bringing some home for Harry to play on. It was also nice to see Harry have a little rebellious, mischievous moment for once and that Petunia and her awful husband hadn't stomped it out of her baby boy.

(1) Since there is no known form of a Boggart in the Harry Potter series, I've pulled inspiration from various folktales and other stories for what a Boggart's true form would be.

(2) For the sake of not getting flagged, anything related to the movie Hocus Pocus belongs to Disney.


	14. Chapter 14

**The Nightmare Before Hogwarts**

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. _Corpse Bride_ is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. _Beetlejuice_ is also property of Tim Burton.

Author note:

This chapter has been betaed Werejaguar of Halloween Town

Edit 5-24-18: This chapter betaed a second time by The Patient One.

 **Chapter 14**

Things did not improve for the Dursleys, in fact, they only steadily got worse. There seemed to be a constant drip in the master bath that drove Vernon up the wall yet nobody could find it. Two different plumber companies, a pair of Italian brothers originally from New York and an odd man with dyed blue hair and a large nose whose company logo was a chicken, had been called out to fix the problem two different times and both times Vernon had argued when the plumbers claimed that there was no leak to be found. (1)

There were also the tapping sounds on the windows and walls, the rattling of doors, of things moving when they turned their backs for just a moment. It was driving Petunia around the bend and she was convinced something was behind it all. Vernon refused to believe it and had even offered reasonable explanations.

The tapping sounds? It was just branches from the tree outside their house tapping on a window or they likely had rodents in the walls that were making the sounds.

The doors rattling? Why that was just a draft!

Items moving? That was just them not paying attention to where they set something to start with or someone else in the house moving said items.

They were very reasonable explanations, and yet…yet Petunia couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else at play. Something… _magical_ even. Not that she would _ever_ utter than around Vernon, her husband was determined to put that part of their lives behind them. Magic? Wizards? Why, those are silly things from fairy tales, he would say.

Petunia would dearly love to write off all that was happening, to forget she ever even heard the word 'magic' and what it brought. But it was hard when she heard whispers that almost sounded like the boy, or even like her sister. Never as loud as they had been that first day when she still swore she heard her nephew's voice from the cupboard, but little whispers that were right there in her ear.

She was also starting to see things out of the corner of her eyes. Darting shadows in the doorways, outside in the trees, in corners of the rooms. But whenever Petunia turned to her head to get a better look, there was nothing there. She had no idea if it was just her own imagination, and she didn't bring it up Vernon or with the ladies that came over for afternoon tea every now and then. Petunia had no idea if Vernon saw the shadows too or not, but if he did then he did a very good job at ignoring them.

The only good thing out of all this oddness was that none of it seemed to affect Dudley. At most he would complain about the tapping sounds keeping him up at night. Anything else seemed to fly under the radar, all of his attention either on food or whatever program he watched on the telly. Petunia didn't know what she would do if whatever was going on scared her son. She was grateful for that much, at least; she just wished all the oddness would go away all together!

Out the corner of her eye, Petunia thought she saw a shadow in the shape of a little boy and a whispering giggle in her ear, but when her head turned to look there was nothing there. She couldn't stop the shiver of fright that raced down her spine.

Finding one werewolf in a city like London wasn't as easy as one would think. For one, not all werewolves kept together in a pack; like Lupin, there were many werewolves that were content to keep to themselves. But unlike Lupin, they had learned how to form a network to keep up with who was where and places that were safe to transform that didn't cross over into another pack's territory.

Glenn tracked down many of his fellow werewolves to see what they had on Remus Lupin, something he wasn't overly thrilled with if only for the fact he had to return to his human form to do it, which meant wearing pants. Glenn _hated_ wearing pants; his brother Chaney, or Wolfie as he preferred to go by, was the opposite of him and preferred to just wear pants.

Still, having to force himself into pants had been worth it; he did find out some info on the Potters' missing friend. He kept to himself—as already stated—and worked whatever odd job he could get his paws on, and always worked in the non-magical part of the human world. One she-wolf told Glenn that she heard that Lupin rarely kept a job for more than a month at a time and was always fired around the time of the full moon.

That was…pretty telling. Transforming from human to werewolf could be pretty painful when you fought the transformations themselves. Many werewolves learned to balance their human and non-human sides, letting them live a pretty normal life if they wished to devote themselves to a pack. Others fought against their wild nature, which was what made transforming so painful, and those werewolves had little to no control over themselves, reduced to nothing but the most basic of instincts.

There were several ways one could become a werewolf but Glenn knew Lupin had been bitten by Greyback, and knowing that bastard, Lupin would have never learned how to balance both sides of himself.

Finding Lupin at his current job had been a lot easier, Glenn watched him from a distance, letting the crowd cover his scent. The man was haggard looking, dark circles under his eyes and strands of his hair already turning gray. There were scars that looked self inflicted on his face and arms. There was a look of deep sadness, anger, and loneliness in his eyes. All in all, Lupin looked like shit.

Yet still, the man had an easygoing smile on his face as he served customers their drinks and orders of food at the little café he was currently working at. Every now and then Lupin would pause and look out the window as if he could sense someone was watching him but Glenn was careful to never let Lupin see him. The werewolf of Halloween wondered how to approach the other, Lupin would never believe him if Glenn said he was there with a message from his dead friends. At best, Lupin would write Glenn off as insane.

After a bit of thought, Glenn decided it was better to approach Lupin during the full moon; in his bestial state, he would be more willing to listen to Glenn. Of course, that just left the question of where Lupin when during the full moon. The werewolf network had no idea, but James had provided several places where Lupin would go during the full moon.

Someplace call the Shrieking Shack was one, but since it was near both a small wizarding town and a school, Lupin was likely to avoid it. There was a small house that Lupin owned, gifted to him by the Potters, that he might use as well at an out of the way forest. Glenn decided to try his luck with those places.

So late November, during the 27'th close to a full month since Halloween and the Potter's joining their spooky family in Halloween Town, Glenn emerged in the wood surrounding the rundown shack dubbed 'Moony's Pad'.

The moon hung high in the school, its cool light filling the woods with an eerie glow. A cloud of fog covered the forest floor and frozen patches of grass crunched under Glenn's clawed feet as he moved through the forest. He sniffed the air, catching the fresh scent of werewolf on the air that matched Lupin's. There was a ramshackle little house in the middle of the woods, a lone light shining through one window. Glenn could hear the muffled, mournful howl from somewhere inside. Glenn answered the howl with one of his own then went over to the house.

The door was easily opened, it wasn't even locked meaning Lupin either didn't think anyone would come upon him in the woods or, more likely, he had forgotten in his haste to prepare for the full moon. Glenn heard scrambling sounds from under the floor and with a bit of searching with his nose, found a trap door that lead down into a basement.

What Glenn saw down there had him growling in anger. Lupin had chained himself to the wall, a thick collar around his neck. The other werewolf was emaciated, Glenn could count every rib, and looked to have little to no fur. There were bite and claw marks still sluggishly bleeding, Lupin was attacking his own body.

'Who you!? Trespasser, my territory!' Lupin snapped and growled, pulling at his chain as he tried to attack Glenn.

"Calm down," Glenn said in a menacing growl, showing off many of his teeth in a snarl. Lupin cowered back, he was weak right now and the other werewolf was an Alpha unlike Lupin.

'My territory, why here?' Lupin asked in a more subdued voice.

"I'm not here to steal your territory," Glenn said. "I'm just here to pass on a message, from your friends."

'Pack gone. All gone. No pack to leave message,' Lupin howled in grief. 'Dog is gone. Deer is gone. Rat is gone. Flower is gone. Pack cub is gone. All alone.'

"Not as gone as you think," Glenn said then stepped a little closer to Lupin. Lupin growled in warning then stopped with a confused look on his face. He leaned closer and sniffed at Glenn.

'Pack cub! You have pack cub?' Lupin pulled at his chain again. Glenn gave a fang-filled grin, he was counting on this and had made sure to hold Harry before he left to confront Lupin in his feral transformed state. Harry hadn't looked too thrilled at being held by the scary looking werewolf, but after explaining it would help bring Lupin back he didn't put up a fuss.

"I know where he is," Glenn explained. "I can take you to him."

'Yes yes! Pack cub! Needs protection of pack!' Lupin howled and pulled at the chain keeping him trap. Glenn growled loudly and towered over Lupin, who submitted quickly on instinct then growled in anger.

"I'm going to let you go," Glenn said. "But we're going to run in the woods before we go, get some of that energy ran off before I take you to pack."

'Yes yes! No chain, free!' Lupin bounced in excitement like an excited puppy. Glenn shook his head; Lupin needed to learn how to merge his two halves so he could control himself in his transformed state. He'd have to ask Wolfie to come and help… and maybe his daughter, too. Glenn's niece Winnie would love to meet the new kid.

With careful claws, Glenn undid the collar and then led the excitable Lupin out into the forest. They ran and howled to the moon, hunted a big fat buck for dinner, then ran some more until all the excitable energy was drained from Lupin. When it was close to time for the moon to set, Lupin staggered and howled in pain as his transformation reversed, leaving a very naked human Lupin on the forest floor, knocked unconscious by the pain of the transformation.

Glenn picked up and swung the unconscious Lupin over his shoulder, making his way with haste to the secret passage back to Halloween Town.

"Oh, Merlin," James said, slapping one hand over his eyes. "I could have happily gone through my afterlife without ever seeing Moony's pale arse ever again."

"Just tell me where you want him," Glenn growled with a rough bark of laughter, standing on the doorstep of the Potter home.

"Upstairs, we have a room ready for him," James opened the door wider and let the werewolf in then led the way upstairs to the room he and Lily had prepared for Remus.

"Oh god, he's naked," Lily yelped and turned her face away.

"Feral werewolves don't have a concept of modesty," Glenn rumbled in an amused growl as he dumped Lupin on the bed. "You're friend needs help learning how to control his whole self, he's too dangerous otherwise. I'm planning on getting in touch with my brother, we'll get him into shape."

"Thanks," James said gratefully. Glenn nodded then headed out to go back to his own home.

"Merlin, he looks worse than normal," Lily said quietly, spelling a pair of sleep pants onto Remus so he wasn't naked anymore and then settling him under the covers. James wrapped his arm around Lily's shoulders and hugged her close. He winced as he saw all the new scars and bite marks on his friend, and the exhaustion on his face that made him look much older than he really was.

"Yeah…but we'll get him healthy again," he said softly then let out a little chuckle. "It's gonna be interesting to see how he reacts to everything."

"He's going to freak out," Lily said as they left the room, closing the door behind them.

Remus's return to consciousness was slow. He was warm and comfortable, the ground soft under him like a bed, which didn't make sense. He had transformed down in the basement of his little rundown house, he should have been waking on the cold, hard cellar floor. And he didn't feel the tightness of the collar and chain he wore to keep him from escaping the house.

He was confused and trying to wake up enough to fully make sense of what was going on. He felt something move on top of him, like a blanket, which again didn't make any sense. He forced open his eyes and turned his head, watching as a little black haired child stood to the side of the bed, tucking what looked like an old stuffed teddy bear into the crook of his arm.

"Wha—" Remus started to say, coughing as his mouth and throat was so dry.

"I-I didn't mean to wake you, Mr. Moony," the child said, ducking down a little beside the bed.

"W-Wait," Remus said with a rough voice. "Where…where am I? What…." Remus sat up, groaning at the effort, and then peered closer at the child. Messy black hair, big green eyes…he looked a lot like…and his eyes were like…

"H-H-Harry?"

"Yes, Mr. Moony?" Harry asked, tilting his head.

"H-How…" Remus pressed his fingers to his forehead, he couldn't remember any of the previous night and he was so confused as to why Harry Potter was beside him.

"Mr. Glenn went and gots you," Harry said. "Mummy said you wasn't feeling well so I broughts you a teddy so you could feel better." He gave Remus a beaming smile at this. Remus glanced down at the old looking stuffed bear that had fallen onto the bed beside him and picked it up.

"Well, thank you, Harry," Remus said with a small smile of his own, thinking it was so cute, but that didn't answer any of his questions. "Harry, where am I? What did you mean by 'Mummy'?" Remus hadn't seen the Potters since before they went into hiding under the fidelius charm with that traitor Black as their secret keeper then after that night where he lost almost all his pack…he hadn't seen Harry since he was just a little baby.

He had asked his old Headmaster Albus Dumbledore if he could visit the child, or at least know where Harry was living so he could send presents on his birthday and Christmas, but Dumbledore had refused to give him any information except Harry was protected where he was and that he wasn't to have any contact with the wizarding world before he joined Hogwarts for his own safety.

"We're at home, and Mummy is mummy," Harry said confused by the question.

"Harry, you're breakfast is ready," A woman's voice said from the doorway. Remus's head snapped up and he nearly choked eyes wide as he swore for a moment he was seeing Lily…but no, it wasn't Lily. The hair was a much darker shade of red than Lily's had been, her voice was just as soft but sounded like she spoke with an accent, her skin was a bluish color and it looked like she was stitched together, and she wore a dress made of different materials stitched together.

"Kay, Miss Sally!" Harry said.

Sally smiled; she and Jack had come over to meet this Remus Lupin and to help explain to the werewolf was what going on. She had come up to get Harry for breakfast at Lily's request, and arrived just in time to see Harry sneak into the room and sweetly try to tuck a toy into the bed with the man. It was so good that Harry was still such a sweet and kind boy after what he must have experienced with his aunt and uncle. With her message delivered, Sally turned and went back downstairs to wait with the others.

"Come on, Mr. Moony!" Harry grabbed Remus's hand and tugged at it. Remus still felt sore all over but followed Harry, he wanted to know what was going on. Who was that strange woman? Where was he? Who was Harry living with? Why was he here? And if Harry was in danger somehow, he would grab the pup and run.

Downstairs was the sounds of clinking plates and the soft murmur of talking. When they entered what turned out to be a kitchen, Remus stopped in the doorway with wide amber eyes.

There was the strange stitched up woman, a very tall skeleton wearing a suit, a small floating dog-ish ghost, and…and…

"J-James? L-L-Lily?

"Moony!" James smiled widely when he saw his friend standing gob smacked in the doorway. Harry let go of Remus's hand and ran over to Lily, who smoothed back his hair and kissed his forehead.

"You weren't bothering Remus, now, were you, baby?" she asked.

"No, Mummy," Harry said as he climbed into his chair.

"No no no, you're dead!" Remus denied what he was seeing with a frantic shake of his head.

"Yep, very dead," James agreed all too casually. "Come on, old man, sit down and we'll explain."

"No, you can't be here. This is a trick or a trap," Remus raised his hand then realized he didn't even have his wand and he wasn't the best at wandless magic, he would have to fight his way out after grabbing Harry.

"Remus John Lupin!" Lily yelled, the dishes rattling around them. "Sit down at the bloody table and let us explain!" Remus stared wide eyed at Lily, proverbial tail between his legs, then meekly sat in the chair at the far end of the table.

"Wow, Lily, that was impressive," James said with a look around then smirked at Harry. "Mummy has a set of lungs on her doesn't she, Prongslet. She hasn't yelled like that since Hogwarts." Harry giggled behind his hand. Remus just stared, first at Lily then at James then back to Lily. He's eyes shone with disbelief, curiosity, wariness and even just a tiny bit of hope. Remus ignored the strange woman and the walking skeleton for now.

"Lily…it really is you… But how…?" Remus ran a confused hand through his hair. "Are you… You're dead, you died."

"Yes, and that hasn't changed," Lily set a cup of tea in front of Remus. "Drink that, it has a bit of calming potion in that, just enough to settle your nerves."

"Give us a chance to explain this time?" James asked. Remus took a steadying breath, drank the tea Lily gave him then nodded his head.

"Okay, explain," he said.

"Great!" James grinned and clapped his hands. "First, introductions. Moony, I would like to introduce you to Pumpkin King of Halloween, Jack Skellington, and his lovely wife Sally."

"Hello! James keeps going on and on about you, I love hearing about your pranks," Jack grabbed Remus's hand in a firm grip to shake while giving the werewolf a wide skeleton grin. "Welcome to Halloween Town."

"Umm… thanks?" Remus said with a touch of hesitantly in his voice. "Halloween Town?"

"We're in charge of making sure Halloween is successful every year," Jack explained. "Every major holiday has their own world, but of the other six, I've only been to Christmas Town, and I've only met Sandy Claws and the Easter bunny."

"We only found out about the other worlds within the last couple of decades," Sally added helpfully after giving him a warm stitched smile of her own.

"Oh…" Remus took a moment to wrap his mind around that then looked at James and Lily. "So, what are you two doing here? How is Harry here? Is this where Dumbledore sent the cub?" A thunderous look crossed the Potter's faces.

"That meddling old goat put my baby with my sister," Lily hissed. "The one person I never wanted Harry to live with."

"Harry was supposed to go live with Padfoot," James said. "Or with Alice and Frank, or a host of other people." Remus scowled in anger and hunched his shoulders.

"Why would you want Harry to live with that traitor?" Remus asked. "He's the one who betrayed you to Voldemort."

"No, he didn't, Sirius would never do that," Lily said.

"Paddy wasn't the traitor," James explained. Remus processed that with a blank, shocked look. Then his eyes widened.

"You switched secret keepers," he realized. "You switched and didn't tell anyone."

"Yes, to Pettigrew," James agreed. "He's the traitor."

"Why didn't you tell me you switched…. You thought I was the one leaking info to him, didn't you…" Remus sighed softly and crossed his arms over his bare chest.

"We didn't know who it was, and yes, maybe we might have suspected a little it was you," Lily said. "We didn't want to but you seemed to be drawing away from us, keeping to yourself."

"We were going to get that rat to give you the secret, I didn't want to think any of my friends were responsible for the leaks," James gave a frustrated sigh and ran his hands through his messy hair. "Never thought it would be Peter. If we hadn't have trusted him, Harry wouldn't have been under the Dursleys' thumb."

"Mummy, I'm done eating," Harry said, his appetite was growing thanks to being allowed to eat regularly for the last month and Lily smiled down at Harry.

"Very good, baby, why don't you go draw a nice picture for Mr. Moony while we finish our adult talk," she suggested.

"Okay!" Harry slid off the chair, hugging Lily and giggling as James ruffled his hair on the way out of the kitchen, Zero tailing him. Lily picked up Harry's plate and cup to put in the sink.

"Okay…just what is going on?" Remus asked, pointing at James. "You two are dead, we've already established that, but how are you here and how is the cub here?"

"Well, see, the afterlife isn't like anyone thought it is," James said. "It's like a big giant city, but filled with dead people. I heard some places in the afterlife looks different depending on where you are from. We are un-dead, changing even; evidently, I'm a poltergeist now."

"I think we're more along the lines of some sort of spirits rather than walking corpses," Lily said. "I wouldn't be surprised if you dug up our graves and our bodies were still there."

"So, what about Harry?" Remus asked.

"We can explain that one," Jack said. "This past Halloween, Kerry—otherwise known as 'The Creature Under The Stairs'—went to the human world to scare a few people, a typical thing for Halloween. He found Harry in a cupboard under some stairs and accidently left the way back to our world open after being startled." (2)

"Cupboard…under the stairs…" Remus repeated then jumped up, slamming his hands on the table. "Cupboard under the stairs?! What was he doing there!?"

"We felt the same way, Moony," James said darkly. "My 'dear' sister-in-law and her fat swine of a husband put our son there, that was his bedroom at the Dursleys."

Remus's werewolf half growled in anger deep in Remus, the sound escaping the man.

"How could Dumbledore allow that? He said Harry was safe!" Remus curled his fingers into the wood of the table, the barest sound of his nails digging in covered by his shout.

"Sit down, Remus," Lily said sternly as she refilled his tea cup. "Drink up. I don't know if Dumbledore really knows just what went on in that house. If I found out he did, I'm going to kill him." Remus quickly drained the cup, letting the calming potion resettle him and his wolf half a bit.

"Alright, continue," he said to Jack.

"Well, Harry used the passage and followed Kerry here to Halloween Town. He made friends with my dog Zero then used some magic while in the town during our yearly end of Halloween celebrations. Since he's a male witch—a wizard, as you say—I decided he could stay. Sally was the one who suggested I look for Lily and James; they're not the first ones to have immigrated here from the Land of the Dead."

"Long story short, he found us and we agreed to live here so we can raise Harry," James finished for them. "Then, of course, we knew we had to bring you and Padfoot here too. You know, once we get him out of Azkaban."

"He may not have been the traitor, but he did end up killing those muggles and Peter," Remus said. "He needs to be in jail for those murders at least."

"Actually, Sirius didn't kill those poor Muggles," Lily said.

"And Wormtail isn't dead," James added.

(1) Just a little fun nod to the Mario Brothers from Nintendo and Gonzo the Great from the Muppets.

(2) The name for the Creatures Under the Stairs comes from reviewer Numbervania who said I could use the name Kerry for Under the Stairs and Twiliam for the Monster Under the Bed so much thanks to them for letting me use those names.


	15. Chapter 15

Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. Nightmare before Christmas is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. Corpse Bride is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. Beetlejuice is also property of Tim Burton.

Author note: So I hoped to have this chapter ready a couple of weeks ago when I started on it but with half the department I work in taking off for the holidays the other half have to cover for them so I'm getting at least 1 day off a week so most nights I crash as soon as I get home. This will likely continue until after the new years so I don't know how quick the next chapter will be here.

This chapter is dedicated to reviewers drvash and Michael68 both of whom had suggested a some good ideas for this fic, one of which has already been started in this chapter. Thanks guys!

This chapter has been betaed Werejaguar of Halloween Town

Chapter 15

Remus sat gob smacked for a moment, his mouth opening and closing not unlike that of a fish, before his found his voice again.

"I'm sorry - could you repeat that? Did you just say Peter is alive?" He asked.

"That's exactly what we said," James said.

"But… but… how do you know for sure?" Remus asked.

"Remus, don't you think we would know if Peter was in the land of the dead with us?" Lily said firmly, leaving no room for argument.

"Yeah, the first thing we would have done was go after that little traitor," James added with a growl.

"The muggles that were killed that day told us what happen. Sirius found Peter and they started to argue," Lily explained. "Peter blamed Sirius while he used a knife to cut off a finger then blew up the street."

Remus groaned miserably as he buried his face into his hands, fingers tangling into his gray streaked hair.

"A finger is all they found of him," he said, voice muffled. "The papers all reported that."

"If Peter really had been blown up, they would have found much more than a finger," Lily pointed out.

"He had to have turned into his rat form and escaped... Who knows where he is now," James crossed his arms over his chest, brow narrowed in half thought and half anger.

Remus groaned again - why didn't he think of that?! The only explanation he could think of was that he was in mourning and shocked over what happened. He had jumped on the bandwagon on believing Sirius had given into his dark family roots and destroyed his makeshift family. He had unthinkingly thrown his old friend under the bus!

"What did your friend say at the trial?" Sally asked. "Surely he must have tried to get the truth out."

"Yeah, I wonder the same thing," James said. "All we kept hearing was that Padfoot was tossed into Azkaban, nothing else."

"I… hmm…" Remus frowned as he sat back in his seat, trying to remember. "I… don't remember ever seeing anything about it. I remember the trials for all the other Death Eaters, Malfoy, and a bunch of others got off by claiming that they were under the Imperius curse. Plus, Crouch Jr.'s trial was big news after he was caught with the Lestranges' after what they did to poor Frank and Alice, but I honestly can't remember if I saw Sirius's in the paper. I might have missed it or blocked it out."

"That doesn't make any sense," Lily said with a shake of her head. "Considering how people seem to nearly worship Harry, putting the person who 'betrayed' the Potter family on trial would be big news for weeks if not years."

"Do you think Sirius didn't get a trial?" James asked, feeling like he should be shocked but honestly he wasn't the more he heard.

"Maybe he didn't…" Remus said feeling sick to his stomach. "As I said, I don't remember seeing anything about one. I can go look it up in the archives, it has to be somewhere."

"Poor Sirius… stuck in that awful place with those Dementors," Lily lamented.

"Don't worry, Lily, we're getting him out," James said as he reached over to rub Lily's back in comfort.

"What is a Dementor?" Jack asked with clear confusion in his eye sockets. There was so much he was learning about this wizarding world, some he had already knew such as witches, ghouls, different spirits, and boggarts. Others like the Doxies he never heard of before, Dementors was one of those things.

"They're… well physically they look a bit like the Grim Reaper - what with wearing tattered robes and how they float above the ground," Lily explained uneasily.

"They're a bit like a wraith, they have the ability to suck out your soul through something called the Dementor's Kiss, and a bit like an energy vampire," Remus took over explaining. Being and fighting against being what he was, a dark creature, Remus had excelled in Defense back at Hogwarts and had continued to study it after he left. He didn't have his masters, he knew there would be no way anyone would allow him to take the tests, but he was very knowledgeable none the less. "They suck all the joy and happiness out of a person, leaving you with your worse memories. You feel like you'll never get warm."

"That's horrible!" Sally said with a gasp, a hand pressed against her stitched mouth. It was quite obvious from her tone and expression that she wasn't using Halloween Town's usual lingo for the word.

"And they keep these horrible creatures in this Azkaban prison you mentioned so many times?" Jack exclaimed in disbelief, sockets wide as he gave a comforting squeeze to his beloved's other hand.

"The way they trap a wizard or witch in their darkest moments keeps them from trying to escape," Remus said solemnly with a shake of his head. "And if they do try, then the Dementor can just give them the Kiss. Dementors were created there by a dark wizard by the name of Ekrizdis who originally built Azkaban fortress as well. It was one of the past Ministers for Magic, Damocles Rowle, who turned Azkaban into a prison and used the Dementor as guards."

"During the war they were on You-Know-Who's side," James said. "All three of us have had firsthand experience with those things... I still can't believe the Ministry of Magic allied themselves with those things again, but the Wizarding world isn't known for its logic or common sense in these things."

"I blame the inbreeding," Lily said dryly, which got snorts of agreement from both her husband and Remus.

"What else were they going to do with them?" Remus stated tiredly, shrugging as he looked down at his tea cup. "It's not if anyone knows how to kill them."

"Surely there's a way," Sally said to which Remus answered with a shake of his head.

"If there is, no one knows how. The best defense anyone has against a Dementor is the Patronus charm," he explained. "And that's an incredibly difficult spell to cast, very few people pull it off."

"And what is a Patronus?" Jack asked curiously, leaning forward.

"You've seen one already, back at Elder Gutknecht's tower," Lily said.

Jack thought back to that day then smiled wildly.

"Ah! The doe made of light!" he said.

"Yes, that's it. Think of it as something of a spirit guardian, the shape of a corporeal Patronus is unique to each witch or wizards," Lily said with a smile. "My is, of course a, doe."

"Mine is a stag, like my Animagus form," James said then wondered to himself if it would still look like a normal stag or if like his deer form it would look skeletal.

"Mine is… a wolf," Remus admitted with a bit of a wince. "I tend not to let it form fully if I can avoid it, I feel like it would clue people into what I am."

"Hmmm, how interesting," Jack said as he rubbed his jaw with a bony hand. "Can anyone cast it?"

"Most witches and wizards have difficulties casting it, it's incredibly advance like Remus said," Lily said. "You must pull on positive and happy memories to produce one, which can be difficult in a stressful situation."

"It was originally created as a defense against Lethifolds but it was discovered to work well against Dementors as well," Remus added. "Some dark wizards can be devoured by maggots that come from their wand if they attempt to cast the charm, but it's pretty rare and it doesn't mean a dark person, or creatures, can't cast it." He tapped his chest referring to himself.

"Fascinating," Jack said.

"Well," James clapped his hands together, grinning wildly. "We got Moony here and we're nearly complete with our plans on how to get Padfoot out of Azkaban. The biggest problem is getting onto the island itself."

"How do you leave this place?" Remus asked as the last thing he could remember was locking himself up the night before.

"Oh there are tunnels that are created through the graveyard," Jack explained. "Some lead to a permanent tunnel in another graveyard or some are temporally created to spaces under beds, closets or under stair cases."

"I've been using the last one to spook Petunia and her fat muggle husband with," James said with a smirk. "It's fun."

"You're pranking the muggles?" Remus asked with amusement. "Just how vicious are you being?"

"Not as much as you think, and I'm technically 'haunting' the Dursleys," James shot back then shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not completely driving them around the bend, or killing them. I may want to go that far sometimes when I think of all they did to Harry, but I'm not going down that path."

"Just a bit of punishment," Lily said. "Once they learn their lesson, we'll leave that part of our lives behind us."

Remus was a bit surprise, James and Sirius could be downright nasty with their pranks when pushed too far, but he can't say he blamed either Potter for wanting revenge on someone who hurt the cub.

"Well back to the original point, you do know Ekrizdis has a mausoleum on Azkaban island and there is a graveyard there right?" he said. James groaned and slapped his forehead then laughed.

"See, this is why we need Moony to make plans, he remembers all the little details," he praised with a grin. Remus chuckled then brought a hand up to tiredly rub his face, he ached all over from the transformation, honestly he was surprised he was up and moving at all.

His whole world had been flipped in less than an hour. Lily and James were there with him, even while dead it soothed his inner wolf to have them there, and he learned that Pettigrew was the traitor - not Sirius - who had been framed by that blasted rat.

"What are we going to do about Peter?" He asked already knowing he was going to go along with whatever plans the Potter's had. James sighed and shook his head.

"Nothing we can do. We know he's alive but if no one has seen him since that day then he's either fled the country or he's hiding in his rat form," the ghostly Potter said. "There's no telling where that little traitor is."

"And you won't be able to go to the Ministry, they'll never believe you without proof," Lily said sadly. Remus gave a humorless chuckle.

"They'll think I'm mad if I said my dead friends were the ones who told me," he agreed. "Merlin, this whole day is strange."

"It doesn't stop here, Moony, wait until you check this town out," James said. "It's kooky, it's spooky, it speaks to my inner prankster. You'll love living here."

"James, I'm not sure if that's safe," Remus said with a worried tone. "What about my furry problem? I don't want to be a danger to Harry."

"Why would you be a danger to Harry?" Jack asked.

"Moony doesn't have any control over his werewolf form," James explained. "He attacks humans when he's like that."

"So he doesn't know how to be a werewolf?" Jack asked, an eyebrow ridge rising.

"I didn't think there was anything to learn how to be a werewolf," Remus said in confusion. "We're uncontrollable killers during the full moon even though we're normal the rest of the month."

"Nonsense," Jack said with a wave of a hand. "All the werewolves I've known have prefect control, they are only killers if they are evil, and they can control their transformations outside of the full moon."

"He's right, Moony. The werewolf that lives here in the town, he's called Glenn, walks around transformed all the time. Nice bloke, did a lot to help us find you and bring you here," James said.

"He also offered to help you learn how to control your werewolf half," Lily added. "You should take those lessons from him, I think it will cut down on the misery and pain you're in. And you'll be safe around Harry."

"I… don't know," Remus said with uncertainty.

"Oh come on, Moony, if you learn to control yourself completely, you don't have worry about hurting anyone when you're in your furry form," James pointed out.

"I guess you have a point there," Remus admitted, the idea did appeal to him. Killing someone, or accidently biting and turning them into a werewolf, was one of Remus's biggest fears. He had got lucky 5th year when James saved Snape from Sirius's thoughtless prank that led their rival right to Remus during the full moon. It took Remus forever to forgive the Black heir…to be honest part of him hadn't ever fully trusted Sirius after that, that's why it was so easy to believe he had turned his back on his friends and joined 'He-who-must-not-be-named'. He was still in shock that it had been Peter the whole time.

"Glenn will be more than happy to help you," Sally said patting Remus's arm. "Everyone here is friendly."

"Just watch out for those little brats Lock, Shock, and Barrel," James warned. He had seen the trio a few times since that first day, but they had so far stayed away from Harry and always ran whenever they saw Jack or Sally.

Remus jumped as a wolf's howl filled the air, looking around wide eyed while James cracked up in laughter.

"You should have seen your face, Moony!" He said pointing. Lily rolled her eyes and stood, leaving the room.

"What was that!?" Remus asked.

"Our doorbell, spooky huh?" James said.

A bark of laughter escaped Remus and he shook his head in amusement. A few seconds later he was crossing his arms over his chest to cover himself a bit as he was still shirtless while Lily reentered the kitchen with a short rounded man with a cone shaped head of reminded Remus of that muggle sweet called Candy Corn wearing a very tall and very skinny hat.

"Good morning, Jack! Sally!" the Mayor said with a very cheerful wave. He noticed Remus sitting at the table and put his best mayor-foot toward. "I see we have another new face in town. A friend of yours, Mr. Potter?"

"Sure is, Mayor," James said grinning. "This is one of my two best mates, Remus Lupin. Wizard and werewolf extraordinaire." Remus blushed a bit at James's words.

"I don't know about extraordinary, sir," Remus said with a bit of a shrug. "Please excuse me for my lack of dress while meeting you."

"Think nothing of it," the Mayor said with a wave of his hand then turned to James, Remus's eyebrows going up when he saw the second face on the back of the Mayor's head. "Now I've brought over some paperwork for you and Mrs. Potter to sign, just a bit of legal work to register you as part of the town. I had to do a bit of searching in my office to find it."

The Mayor took out a scroll out of his jacket and let it unroll across the table top, the other end stopping in front of James and Lily. James picked up the scroll and started reading it. James had been trained in politics, though he hated having to deal with them, due to having a family seat on Wizengamot and his family dealings in the business world.

Mostly the Potter wealth and fame came from the potions that his ancestors had created since the 12th century, starting with Linfred of Stinchcombe. They were related to the Peverells through Linfred's oldest son Hardwin whom married the granddaughter of the youngest of the three Peverell brothers - Ignotus. It didn't make the Potter's the head of the Peverell family-line due to being descendants of the youngest brother, but it did help in some ways.

James, himself, was pretty good at potions, it had been his second best class after transfiguration, and he had been behind only Lily and Snape in class standings. His father, Fleamont, who had invented the Sleekeazy's Hair Potion, had trained him since he was young among other duties. And one other thing Fleamont had made sure to pound into his spoiled son's head was to never sign any paperwork without reading it first. If James had even dared to try something like that, no doubt his father would march out of the Land of the Dead to Halloween Town to give James an earful about it.

"What's this part here about offering our property to be a part of Halloween Town?" James asked, pointing at part of the scroll.

"That's just a little bit to help Halloween Town," the Mayor explained. "The property will still belong to your family, this case Harry since he's the one who's still alive, but it will be considered a part of Halloween Town while still existing and being a part of the human world."

"It allows my realm to have more permanent access points to the human realm," Jack explained, stepping in where the Mayor left off. "It doesn't have to be all properties; it can just be the one you and I visited or some other place. Or none at all, it's not a requirement."

"Hmmm… what do you think, Lils?" James asked.

"I don't see where it would hurt," Lily said after a moment. "It will give Harry a quick way back and forth as Halloween Town is, or will be, as much a home to him as the Wizarding World and Earth in general."

"Good point," James said then added the ancestral Potter Manor near Godric's Hollow to the scroll, leaving the other properties as they were. If Harry decided he wanted other Potter family properties as a part of Halloween Town then he could do so when he was an adult.

Otherwise the rest of the scroll was pretty straight forward, registering the Potter family as citizens of Halloween Town. James signed his name at the bottom with a quill then handed the scroll to Lily so she could read and sign as well. Jack's signature was added alongside their's, sealing the scroll with the magic of Halloween.

"That should be everything," the Mayor said in a chipper tone as he rolled the scroll back up and tucked it under an arm. "I'll have a copy made and send it back for your records. Welcome to our town." He grabbed Remus's hand, properly greeting him now since Lupin would be a future voter. "Well I should head back for now. Ladies, gents!" The Mayor tipped his ridiculously tall hat to Lily and Sally then headed out the door humming under his breath.

"He is…ummm…" Remus searched for the right word for the Mayor.

"Over the top?" James supplied with a smirk.

"That's one way to describe him. Is the second face just for show?" Remus asked.

"No, he is literally a two-faced politician," Jack said with a bony grin. "Whenever he's distressed or worried, his head turns around. He's like that a lot, always worried he won't be re-elected."

"I don't know why he worries so much, no one ever runs against him," Sally commented with a good natured roll of her eyes. Remus blinked then shook his head in amusement, this was certainly the most entertaining thing to happen to him in a long time. 

* * *

Meanwhile, as soon as James and Lily had signed the scroll…

The wards that lay across the Potter lands stirred as they felt something form on their land. The wards could sense it was some sort of… pathway… a portal to someplace else. Someplace filled with dark, yet not evil, energies.

The Potter lands were old, the generations upon generations of Potters had fed the wards and given the land a certain degree of awareness from the stone and wood the house was built upon to the forest that sat on the land. Many old magical homesteads were the same way, so much magic fed into them by the families that claimed the land. The greatest example of awareness, of being alive, was Hogwarts and the land the school sat upon though none ever reached the castle's level of sentient it had.

But the Potter lands were aware and they knew their wards were weakening. There were so few of their Potters born the last few generations, only one magical Potter left alive, so their wards weakened and more so over time with so few of their wizards and witches to renew the wards.

The land turned its attention to the portal again with interest. It could feel its Potters, the beloved, spoiled, dead one that visited with the strangely dark yet light creature and their little master they had yet to meet, this portal was somehow connected to them. The wards stretched out, prodding and testing the strange new energy, drawing a bit on it. The land felt… stronger? Yes, it felt stronger from this new thing on its land, this pathway to someplace else. They were connected to this place, it allowed them to draw as much energy as it pleased to make the wards strong again to protect its Potters.

As the land and wards that the ancestral Potter home were located on drew on the magic of Halloween, it slowly started to… shift and change into something new and twisted. The wards buzzed happily as the land settled, waiting for their masters to return. 

* * *

"Can I really pick any toy I want?" Harry asked looking up at Jack and Sally, holding onto Sally's hand. After the Mayor had left, Sally had told the Potter's about Harry tucking his little stuffed bear into the bed with Remus who chuckled and told his friends how Harry wanted to give him the bear to 'feel better'. Lily had adored the little story, cooing at how sweet and kind Harry was. James just teased Remus about his new teddy bear.

Harry had returned not much later, Zero by his side, to give Remus the drawing he had done, beaming happily as Remus smiled and thanked him. After that, Remus said he had to return to his home, but only after he promised Harry that yes he was coming back, he just needed to get his things. After all he couldn't just run around in a conjured pair of pajama pants all the time. Remus's pack was here in Halloween Town, two dead but at the same time alive in a way and the pack's pup and soon the final member in Sirius Black would be among them as well. There was no need to bring up a certain rat.

It was after this that the Skellingtons suggested that Harry should have a very special toy, one of his choosing, for his kindness to Remus when gifting the werewolf the teddy bear. Harry had many toys now, ones his Daddy brought him and ones other citizens of Halloween Town had gifted him with. But Jack had promised these toys were different, special ones made a very long time ago.

The toys the citizens of Halloween Town made almost 30 years prior for that Christmas the one year Jack had taken over had been returned to them by Santa after he had fixed Jack's mistake. They had been stored away in one of the many abandoned houses, except for a few that had gone to a few spooky and monster families who enjoyed the toys, until Oogie had turned many of them evil during the short time he had been brought back by Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Those that hadn't been destroyed by Jack and the others had been returned to normal and stored away again.

"Any toy at all," Jack said as he waved his hand at the piles of toys in the room. Zombie toy ducks that had bloody looking gunshot wounds painted on them, demonic dollies, a train with tentacles tracks, vampire teddy bears, scary jack-in-the-boxes, these were just handfuls of the toys that they had made for the children of the human world. "These toys are alive, that is what makes them special."

"They can be a little scary but they won't hurt you, Harry," Sally assured Harry softly. The toys that Jack had given away that Christmas Eve would have never really harmed the children (except maybe the giant snakes and killer wreaths, not their smarter ideas...), but the children had been too scared by the toys and really it had been for the best that Santa had taken them away.

Harry stepped closer to the pile of toys, one hand fisted in his shirt. By his side Zero nuzzled close, the ghostly dog that had become Harry's best friend offering him comfort. Harry was Zero's favorite person right beside his master and Sally. The toys didn't really scare Harry, he had been in Halloween Town long enough that scary things didn't really scare him anymore and some of his toys were already scary looking back home.

Harry's green eyes were drawn to a patched worked looking teddy bear with red eyes, scary claws and big fangs. He tilted his head to the side then smiled, picking the scary bear.

"I like this one," he said hugging it close, unknowingly picking a toy similar to the one his aunt had received that one Christmas Eve and that would be 'returned' to Petunia on Christmas day. But while a scary patchwork bear had scared a young Petunia Evans, Harry found comfort in the toy who in turn instantly bonded with its new owner. It wasn't going to let anyone mess with its human.

"What are you going to call it, Harry?" Sally asked as they headed back out.

"Hmmm…. Mr. Bitey," Harry said after a few seconds of musing, and to his delight the toy bear seem to click its jaws in approval.

"Fantastic name," Jack said with a skeleton grin.


	16. Chapter 16

Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. Nightmare before Christmas is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. Corpse Bride is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. Beetlejuice is also property of Tim Burton.

Author note: So… yeah, it's been a little over month since I updated BUT I had actually had this chapter written out since roughly a month ago. I had originally planned on it being a sorta Christmas/New Years present for my readers (which is why the chapter is way longer than usual). But then life got in the way, the holidays at work are always a bitch, my sister came to visit for Christmas so we had to go around to see all the cousins while she was here (we have a lot of cousins). And Werejaguar had her stuff going on too so it took a while. THEN I had to completely rewrite one part of the chapter as what I wrote didn't make any good sense.

Thankfully the next chapter is already written so it won't be as long as a wait.

So quick couple of things I want to address before we get into the meat of the story. There will be no Hotel Transylvania stuff in this fic. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the movies, in fact I love them and can't wait to see the third. But since I've decided to go with the Scooby-Doo version of the classic movie monsters, Hotel Transylvania won't be included since it can get confusing trying to sort out the different versions of Dracula and the rest of the monster squad.

And yes, that does mean there is a green van full of meddling teens/young adults and their talking dog out there somewhere but other than a mention of Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy, the Mystery Inc. gang shouldn't show up.

There will also be no Kingdom Hearts related anything unless it's a vague mention or a nod to the series. You don't want to add too many series to a fic, it's too easy to lose track of characters and plot.

Also hi and welcome to my new readers! And as always all y'all are awesome as usual.

Most of this chapter has been betaed Werejaguar of Halloween Town, the very last part was by me so I apologize if it isn't as polished as the rest of the chapter.

Chapter 16

Harry couldn't believe how much his life had changed in the last month since he followed the monster that appeared in his cupboard under the stairs, whose name he learned was Kerry. Harry was now as happy as a little boy could be; he had his Mummy and Daddy again, he got his own big room and got to sleep in a real bed, he had toys and books, and he got to eat as much as he wanted! He even had friends now whom he got to play with all the time!

His parents showered him with love, played with him, read him bedtime stories, kissed him and hugged him. They encouraged Harry to ask questions and answered any question he had if they were able to answer. His Mummy was teaching him letters and numbers like when he was in school, happy that he didn't have to make sure he did worse than Dudley, and teaching him to read. His Daddy told him all sort of stories about the Wizarding World, using the wizarding dolls he brought, he liked to tell Harry about the greatest wizard ever - Merlin. Even Mr. Moony was helping Harry learn now, or Uncle Moony as Harry was starting to call him, he took over a bit of Harry's teachings from his Mummy and Daddy, but Harry didn't mind at all. Uncle Moony was a whole lot better than his old teacher he had when he started school.

The other monsters in Halloween Town, whom Harry was no longer scared of, also were trying to teach him. Not the same things as Mummy, Daddy and Uncle Moony, no, they wanted to teach Harry how to be scary. Miss Helgamine and Miss Zeldaborne liked to teach Harry magic, he could summon a little ball of light over his hand now! He was working on making it change colors, but they were ecstatic that Harry could summon the light so young, but Harry just wished he had known how make his own light ball while at the Dursleys... It would have been helpful when the light in his cupboard went out.

Lately though, his parents and his uncle didn't have much time to teach him. Harry understood why, they were working on, as his Daddy put it, "busting" Mr. Padfoot out of jail. Mummy and Daddy were making a lot of potions, they even let him help! It was a bit like cooking, but Harry didn't have to do all the work.

"Okay, add the petals in one at a time, sweetheart," Lily instructed, one hand on Harry's back to hold him steady on the stool. The tip of Harry's tongue stuck out as he let the pretty, purple, petals fall into the cauldron, one by one into the bubbling liquid. As soon as the last one fell in, Lily started stirring counter-clockwise. "Very good, baby."

"We'll make a little Potions Master out of him yet," James said with a laugh as he stood over his own cauldron. Lily and Harry were working on a healing potion for Sirius, after 4 years in Azkaban with Dementors as roommates, his best friend wasn't likely in any good shape. James was working on a brew that would be turned into a knock-out gas for the guards at the prison. Both Potters were grateful to have Remus living with them now, the werewolf was able to go to the Wizarding World and buy things they couldn't themselves using the money James had taken out of the safe in his father's office.

"Well he's certainly seems to be having fun with it," Lily agreed smiling as Harry climbed down and picked up Mr. Bitey, sitting in a nearby chair with the demonic looking teddy bear and a children's book to practice his reading. Mr. Bitey, and Lily could see why Harry chose that name with those sharp looking teeth, seem to be listening intently to Harry as the boy sounded out words. She grinned to herself as she turned back to her potion, yes she was happy that Harry was being taught by both of them in potions and with the Potter family talent for it plus her own, Harry had the potential to be great or even a prodigy if he desired so. In fact, she had gotten via sending Remus out into the Wizarding World, Harry a child's potions kit for Christmas. And speaking of Remus -

"I'm back!" The reluctant werewolf called out warmly from the front door.

"In the lab, Moony!" James called as he left his potion to simmer a bit. "Did you get everything?"

"Yes," Remus held up a couple of shopping bags. "New, warm, clothing for Sirius and plenty of chocolate." The chocolate was for him and Sirius, a well known and highly favored combatant against the effects of the Dementor's chill. "I also finally got a look at the old archives at the library in Diagon Ally - no trial."

"That figures," James said with a huff and shake of his head.

"How can they just toss Sirius into Azkaban without a trial like that?" Lily said disgust. "How did everyone miss that?"

"There could be several ways," James said, sighing. "It had to be chaotic after _his_ fall, or someone paid plenty of money to make sure Padfoot was quickly put away. Lots of people would want him out of the picture just to have a chance at the Black fortune, especially within his own family. We have no way to know."

"Still no excuse," Lily said as set her potion to simmer for a bit and put her hands on her hips. "So that's everything you need then."

"Should be, the decoy is ready too," James said nodded. "The potions are already done or nearly finished, thanks to our little helper." He winked at Harry who giggled and hid behind his book.

"Helping out, Pup?" Remus smiled as Harry eagerly nodded.

"Mummy and Daddy's been teaching me potions!" Harry said eagerly.

"I bet you've been learning a lot and been a big help," Remus reached into his pocket and took out a candy bar. "I think special little boys deserve a treat for that. I picked this up in a Muggle town, it's called a Reese's." Harry gasped as the bright orange packet was placed in his hands.

"For me?" Harry asked in awe, getting candy was such an exciting thing for him. "Thanks you, Uncle Moony!" Harry hugged Remus tightly. Remus gently wrapped his arms around Harry hugging him back, his inner wolf nearly prancing in joy.

"You can have it after dinner, Harry," Lily said.

"Yes, Mummy," Harry said.

"We just need to inform Jack and we'll be ready to go," James said as he finished up the last of the knock out potion for the break out. "This should be fun."

"'Fun', he says," Remus grumbled with a roll of his eyes and fond shake of his head before looking at Lily. "You're husband is insane, thinking sneaking around Azkaban is 'fun'."

"I know," Lily said, shrugging. "But I wouldn't want him any other way." She giggled as James preened at the words. 

* * *

James became much more solemn and serious as he, Remus, and Jack traversed down the dark tunnel on their way to Azkaban. This was much too important and serious for James to joke around, if anything - even just the slightest thing - went wrong here...one of them could be killed or rendered soul-less. He wasn't sure if the Dementor's Kiss could work on himself or Jack, but it would work on Remus and Sirius for sure if they buggered this up.

Remus was quiet as well, his pockets full of chocolate to help push back the chill of the Dementors. Like James, he knew how dangerous this was. Even more dangerous than any mission he did for the Order of the Phoenix and his various attempts to speak to the werewolf packs around the UK.

"Nearly there," Jack called from ahead, leading the group. He had easily summoned small but bright flames that floated around all three of them, lighting up the tunnel for his companions who couldn't see in the dark like he could. "Let's see…which one… Ah-ha! Here we are." Jack stopped under a stone slab, the tall skeleton pushing it up and out of the way so he could climb out, James being quick to follow with Remus tailing him.

The mausoleum wasn't that impressive, which was a sad shame as it must have been at one point in the past, unfortunately, time and lack of maintenance had reduced the final resting place of the dark wizard Ekrizdis to a crumbling mess. The man's stone casket had collapsed in on itself, the body contained within was nothing but bones and dust. There was nothing for the dark wizard to inhabit if he did for some reason return from the Land of the Dead.

The door leading out of the mausoleum was hanging off its hinges, leaving a wide gap for the trio to slip through. The outside of the crypt wasn't in much better condition, it was clear that no one had cared at all about Ekrizdis or his final resting place, it was utterly amazing the mausoleum was still standing at all!

The graveyard was in even poorer shape, it was impossible to tell who was buried where. If no one claimed the body of the witch or wizard that died in Azkaban, they were given burial on the island, but it was clear no one gave a damn for the stone markers that sat at the head of each grave was so wore down by the weather that it was impossible to read any of them.

"Cheery," Remus deadpanned as he pulled his robes tighter around himself, shivering as the cold, punishing, rain soaked through his clothing. He glanced at James and Jack, envying them a bit as the weather seem to hardly bother them.

"The guard house is that way, I believe," James said over the pounding sea. They found the rocky path up toward the fortress turned prison, nearly slipping at times on the wet rocks.

The guard house was easy to spot once they cleared the path from the burial grounds and rounded the corner of the prison. It looked out of place, one story with warm lights filling most of the windows and a curl of smoke rising from the chimney. Sneaking up to the nearest window, the trio of monsters peeked inside to see what was going on inside.

There were a small number of guards inside; three were playing what looked like poker at a small round table on one side of the room, there was another guard sitting slouched down in a chair by the fireplace looking like they were ready to drop off to sleep. Yet another sat by a wizarding wireless set likely listening to either the news or a Quidditch game. All five of them looked relaxed as if they didn't have any cares or worries, and why should they worry? The island that Azkaban was located on was uncharted and near impossible to find, and who in their right mind would even come to the island on a night like this! The inmates were locked up tight inside the prison that was guarded by Dementors so they were unlikely to come down and attack the guards even if they did escape their cells with no wands to fight with.

So why shouldn't the guards be lax and carefree, as far as they were concerned they were perfectly safe.

"Let's find a window, I'll sneak in and hit them with the knockout gas," James said, lifting a comically sized hand pump sprayer, one that looked straight out of a muggle cartoon with a large nozzle, a slide pump at the other end, and a large cylinder container filled with the knock out gas at the head of the nozzle. They went around to the other side of the guard house to a dark window, Jack slipping his slim bony fingers under the edge and easily lifting the window up. James slipped inside, turning himself invisible, and looked around.

The darken room was a barrack-styled sleep quarters, one of the beds even had a guard sleeping in it. The guard mumbled in their sleep about the cold and James quickly sprayed them with the gas when they started to stir. The guard went right back to sleep with a roaring snore.

Sneaking out into the main part of the guard house, he pumped the sprayer making sure to cover all five of the guards. The one in the chair by the fireplace fell asleep right away, the one listening to the wireless fell off the chair to the floor, and the three playing poker slumped over onto the table. James snorted softly in laughter as cards slid out of one of the guard's sleeve, showing he had been cheating. Doing a quick check of the rest of the guard house showed no one else was inside. James took a moment to search one of the guards and grinned wildly as he produced a ring of keys for the cell doors.

"All asleep," James said as he came back out and made himself visible again.

"There may be more guards inside the prison itself," Remus pointed out as they spelled the window back closed after banishing any trace of them breaking and entering.

"So we'll knock them out too," James said. Carefully, they made their way up to the main doors of the prison, James using his pilfered key ring to unlock the doors.

The inside of the prison was dark and gloomy; sconces lined the walls with blue fire that gave off a low eerie light. Mold grew on the walls, dust gathered on every surface and cobwebs hung in corners. It was wonderfully gloomy and Jack would have adored it if it wasn't so damn depressing. It hung in the air like blanket, so thick you could nearly choke on it.

"I do not like this place," Jack said with a brooding, gloomy frown.

"Not my top pick as a vacation spot either," James agreed as he tried to lighten the atmosphere.

"I don't know, a couple of throw pillows, maybe some potpourri, it could really spruce the place up," Remus added, proud that he kept the waver of fear he was feeling out of his voice. James snorted softly and cracked a smile in Remus's direction while Jack huffed in amusement, his shoulders shaking a bit in silent laughter.

"Padfoot is near the top of the tower, I wager," James said, tiling his head back. Remus sighed softly, this place wouldn't have any sort of lift so they would have to climb the stairs. It was a good thing Hogwarts had given him plenty of practice the seven years there.

The first floor of the prison wasn't much, a small mess hall for the inmates with lesser offenses, an empty kitchen, a small room for a small group of House Elves that James sprayed with the knock out gas just in case, and a room that looked like an office for whoever was in charge. A quick look around found the prisoner records and where in this hellhole Sirius was currently being held. The floor also held a few meeting rooms for visitors coming to see inmates, a cleaning closet, and a couple of storage rooms for prison garb.

Next couple of floors were for short termed prisoners, most of the cells were empty save one or two. The people inside were sleeping and didn't notice the passage of an unnaturally tall skeleton, a poltergeist, and a wizarding werewolf. No guards were to be found on these floors, meaning they had all been inside of the guard house.

Next few floors were much the same, longer termed inmates sleeping in cells, many curled up into shivering balls. No human guards were seen, but Jack did finally get his first glance at a Dementor soon enough.

He mused that Lily and Remus had been right, it did look a bit like Grim at least a little. You could nearly see the cold that surrounded the creatures as they glided above the floor, patrolling the corridors, until they were chased away by a stag and wolf made of light.

"Getting closer to the top," James said softly, gazing at his Patronus that looked like it always had instead of shifting like his Animagus form did.

"Thank Merlin," Remus said as he leaned against the wall, panting for breath. He was a bit envious of Jack and James at the moment, as the Dead neither had breath to catch and obviously didn't get tired out from climbing what seem like endless sets of stairs. "I think I'm a bit out of shape."

"No worries, Moony, we're almost there," James said cheerfully.

"We should move, those creatures are coming back," Jack said, peering down the darken corridor. Remus suddenly got his second wind and led the way up the stairs to the floor where the worst of the worst was kept. Those who had loyally followed Voldemort, those who were completely insane, those who killed for fun, and one wizard who was locked up unjustly.

James and Remus's Patronus quickly cleared the Dementors from the hallway, the light quickly attracting the attention of those awake within their cells. 

"Did the ickle guards come to play?" A woman's voice shrilly sang out from one of the nearby cells. James and Remus turned toward the voice, stepping back a bit in shock as they recognized Sirius's cousin, one of Voldemort's most loyal and bloodthirsty followers - Bellatrix Lestrange.

The years in Azkaban had taken their toll on Bellatrix; her hair surrounded her head in a halo of filthy, wild, black curls, her eyes shone with insanity, and her long, claw-like, fingers gripping the bars of her cell door as she pressed her gaunt face against the cold iron.

"You! My master kill you!" She hissed when her deranged mind recognized James, a wide, crazed, grin spreading over her face. She was so lost in her memories of that night that she hardly noticed the tall, skeletal, guest standing behind James and Remus before turning her full attention on the two wizards. "Yes, killed you and your filthy mud-blood wife. Yes, yes, dead…"

"Well I see you're finally where you belong, Lestrange," James taunted, smirking rather smugly. "Only place better would be 6 feet underground taking a dirt nap." Bellatrix snarled and reached a hand out of the bars, clawing at the air before James.

"I will kill you, Potter! Yes, kill you again! You and your mud-blood!" She howled. "And my master, yes he will come and free his most loyal, take his rightful place as ruler of all!"

"Your master is nothing but a hack," James spat and stepped closer to Bellatrix's cell, but stayed out of her reach. "After all, he was defeated by my infant son."

"He will kill that little brat," Bellatrix promised her eyes bright with insanity.

"Oh do shut up already, Bella," a man's voice almost lazily called out from two doors down. James and Remus turned toward the voice, seeing their friend Sirius Black leaning against the door of his cell, arms hanging out from between the bars. The man blinked as he looked at his two best friends then laughed a rather hollow laugh. "Well bugger me, they finally did it. The Dementors have finally pushed me around the bend. How's it going, Prongs?" 

* * *

Sirius Black lay curled up in his cell, currently in the form of his Grim-like Animagus form of a large black dog, his nose tucked up under his tail as he tried to keep warm. He hated this time of year, the already cold prison was made worse by the biting wintery winds that battered the side of the building and flowed through the small window at the top of his tiny cell. Add on the chill the Dementors brought with them and it was hell on Earth.

He huffed softly, curling up tighter, and did his best ignoring the screams of the other prisoners on the floor as the Dementors brought out their worst memories. He was so grateful turning into his animal form didn't need a wand; it helped against the cold and lessened the effects of the Dementors somewhat. Not completely, even animals could feel despair and sadness, but it helped. Nonetheless, he was still plagued by his own worst memories.

The abuse his mother heaped onto him growing up, fighting in the war against Moldy-shorts and his death munchers, seeing so many of his friends die…. Seeing the Potter Cottage, little Harry screaming and reaching for him while held in Hagrid's arms… James… Lily….

Merlin, those memories always cut to his soul and made Sirius whine softly as a Dementor passed near to his cell. As always it ignored him, the simpler mind of a dog didn't interest the dark creatures when it had so many others to draw memories from.

It took a bit for Sirius to notice that the cold lessened a bit, that the screams had stopped...well except one screaming voice... Sirius gave a doggy sigh as he listened to Bellatrix's voice screeching about Merlin knows what. He honestly wasn't paying that much attention to the words that spewed from his cousin's mouth as he stood, shook out his fur, and then changed back into his human form with a mighty stretch.

"Oh do shut up already, Bella," he grinned slightly to himself and let his eyes wonder a bit as he leaned against the bars of his cell. He blinked, brain shutting down slightly as he took in the three people standing in the middle of the hallway. James Potter - his best friend and brother in all but blood - was looking a little blue, Remus Lupin - his other best mate - made him feel a pang in his chest as he remembered how he treated him when he thought the werewolf was the traitor, and the third person… well Sirius wasn't sure what to make of that one; it was an insanely tall skeleton wearing some sort of muggle looking pin-striped suit...maybe Death decided to get fancy for whatever was left of his soul... All of these thoughts took place in Sirius's mind in less than a few seconds, but it still made him crack a smile at his luck.

"Well bugger me, they finally did it. The Dementors have finally pushed me around the bend. How's it going, Prongs?"

"Bloody hell, Sirius," James breathed as he stepped over to Sirius's cell. "You look like hell."

"And you're looking a little blue," Sirius responded with a grin. "Lily making you sleep on the couch again?"

Remus snorted in disbelief and laughter, rolling his eyes fondly. "Merlin, he's cracking jokes at a time like this," he said.

"Gentlemen," Jack calmly interrupted, "Those things are returning and they are bringing friends." He had decided to pay attention to either end of the corridor while the duo reunited with their old friend. The words were grave and with a touch of urgency as he clenched his rows of fangs in a grimace. 

"Oh bloody hell," James cursed as he and Remus spun around to see dozens of Dementors flying down the hall. He quickly raised his hand and summoned his stag Patronus, the silvery beast stamping the ground and shaking its head with antlers at the ready. Remus mirrored James, but all the commotion from the now awaken inmates had alerted so many Dementors that the terrifying sight overrode his ability to call up any positive memories. Remus's amber colored eyes widened in fright as only a thin silvery wisp escaped the tip of his trembling wand, his inner wolf wailed in fear, and his breath caught in his throat as one of the Dementors quickly closed in on him, spectral hands on its hood in preparation to pull it back and give the frozen werewolf the Kiss.

"Moony!" Sirius yelled in alarm, gripping the bars of his cell door. Remus wasn't real to him, Remus and James were surely hallucinations, but that didn't stop the horror and fright in his voice and eyes for his friends!

"YOU SHALL NOT HARM MY FRIENDS!" Roared Jack in anger as a brilliant fireball slammed into the Dementor with the force and size of a cannonball, the Pumpkin King skeletal features narrowed with righteous anger at the creatures who dared attack someone he both considered a friend and a citizen under his protection. The Dementor shrieked an unholy noise of surprise and pain as it reared back, trying to find safety amongst its kind.

James grabbed Remus and yanked him back against the wall by Sirius's cell door. Both of them looked at Jack with stunned eyes, the skeleton was surrounded with flames that danced between an angry scarlet to a burning orange brighter than fiendfyre, the magical fire so powerful that it seen to make his eye sockets glow dangerously from within their hollow blackness, and his face stretched out into a wild, skeletal grin that made the usual insane grin on Bellatrix's face look down-right normal.

The Dementors attempted to swarm this new threat, but Jack gracefully leapt up and over, making a few of the Dementors collides into each other. In the seconds between his jump and landing, the flames seem to completely consume Jack, blocking him from everyone's' sight, but when he landed...the fires died down and the air...the air felt different, thick with this feeling that hit everyone... It sent a slow...crawling...icy feeling down all their spines, from the top of the skull to the tips of the toes. Once he rose up, once everyone could see him, they felt the feeling increase a 100 fold and an animalistic instinct screamed one word within all their minds - RUN!

Gone was the skeleton, and in its place was an equally tall scarecrow wearing a tattered maroon shirt on its body made of straw and twigs with lengths of rope that seem to tightly coil around its joints. Jack's skull had been replaced with a jack-o-lantern sporting a wide, wicked, smile. Flames lit up the inside of the pumpkin, spilling out of the carved openings as Jack's cackle boomed like thunder before jumping at the Dementors with roaring flames flying from his claw-like branch hands.

"It's the Nightmare King!"  
"King of Monsters!"  
"It's a demon!" Voices screamed in horror up and down the corridor.

"Bloody hell…" James whispered in shock.

"James, did you know that Jack is the King of Nightmares?" Remus asked in equal shock.

"No, he only said he's the Pumpkin King," James said with a shake of his head then yelped as he ducked down to avoid a stray fireball. "Bugger! Sirius, we're coming in!" James's hands shook as he fumbled with the pilfered key ring, nearly dropping it twice, then jammed the key for all the cell doors for that floor into the lock and turned it. He and Remus rushed in to avoid the fight happening in the corridor.

Sirius blinked and started to think that just maybe this wasn't some sort of delusion. Maybe…

"James?" He asked hopefully. "What is going on?"

"We're here to spring you from jail!" James said with a grin.

"Here, eat this," Remus pushed one of the chocolate bars he brought into Sirius's hand, the wrapper already torn off. Sirius looked confused, shrugged, and bit into bar, moaning softly as the flavor hit his tongue.

"Best dream ever," he said around a mouthful of chocolate. Remus cast a Lumos and lit up the cell as he looked at Sirius, wincing as he heard the shriek of pain from some of the Dementors and Jack's terrifying roar companied by the steady heat radiating from the now one-sided fight.

"Alright, we don't have much time for explanations, we need to make this quick so Sirius, strip," Remus said. Sirius grinned, eating the last of the chocolate bar before answering.

"I always knew you wanted me that way, Moony," he teased, sucking off the bits of chocolate off his finger tips with an extremely exaggerated wiggling of his brows.

"Be serious, Sirius," James said as he took a bland doll looking thing out of his pocket then enlarged it until it was the same size as Sirius. Sirius shrugged his shoulders and tugged the tattered prison robes off his thin frame, James and Remus both winced when they took in the state their friend was in.

Sirius's body was so frighteningly thin, pale skin clinging to his bones to where you could easily count each rib, his stomach was shrunken in, and fat nowhere to be found on his body. Sirius's face was gaunt looking, his cheeks hollow, his gray eyes haunted while his hair hung around him in long, tangled locks, and his beard was a wild mess.

"Merlin…" James said softly, eyes and voice filled with pain. Sirius wrapped his arms around himself and shivered a bit.

"Oh Sirius," Remus said, he cast a quick cleaning charm on his friend, it wasn't as good as a proper bath but it would do for now. He then pulled out the warm clothing he brought for the other wizard. "Here, put these on."

"Thanks, Moony," Sirius said as he quickly pulled on the new clothing; thick fleece pants, a warm jumper and thick socks with a new pair of shoes. "This is the best hallucination ever, too bad when I wake up from this I'll be back in my ever stylish prison robe."

"Not a chance, Padfoot," James said, he had been busy transfiguring the strange doll to look like Sirius and Remus thought he did a pretty damn good job. It had the same gaunt face, the tangled hair and beard, and even the numbered tattoo on the side of its neck like Sirius had. The only thing that made the golem stand out was its black button eyes. "Put on those robes," James instructed once he activated the doll. The Sirius-doll didn't speak and pulled on the dirty, tattered robes then waited for further instructions.

The doll was an invention of the mad scientist Dr. Finklestein, created at Jack's request. It was soul-less and would follow whatever commands James gave it.

"Do you really think this will work, James?" Remus asked, handing Sirius another chocolate bar before biting into his own. The buttoned-eyed golem moved to sit in the corner of the cell while James shrugged his shoulders.

"It should, as long as they don't look too closely at it," he said. "At least for a while, I hope."

Meanwhile outside the cell, Jack - being a little ashamed to admit this - was having the time of his life fighting against the Dementors. The grin underneath his pumpkin face never left as he dodged, spun, climbed, and leapt around the Dementors, his powers lashing out at them and making them scream with pain. He hadn't had a battle like this since Oogie and he wasn't going to lie, a part of him enjoyed a good fight. If he had blood, it would be singing with adrenaline as he let his full rage rain down on the Dementors. Several by now had floated away in shock and fright to lick their wounds, none of them even daring to go after any of the screaming prisoners who had awaken to the screaming bloody murder sight of the soul sucking swarm and the legendary figure from many childhood nightmares.

Finally, after what seemed like hours but in reality was only a few minutes, the last of the Dementors realized whatever Jack was, he was stronger than them, could hurt, and maybe even kill them. With shrieks of pain and outrage, the Dementors floated off down the hall like smoky wraiths though a few did linger to ominously hiss their hatred at the victor of the fight. The Pumpkin King was having none of that by the guttural hiss and threatening bone rattle he released back before widening his stance and bending unnaturally back then lunging forward, he spat one last mighty stream of fire at the shrieking offenders who had just barely escaped. Jack breathed deeply and let his magic flow out and around him, regaining his skeleton form with ease while ignoring the chorus of human screams that went deadly silent when he switched back.

"Bloody hell that was scary," James said as he, Remus, and Sirius exited the cell, the door locking behind them. Jack just gave them that old skeleton grin and took a bow, which made James and Remus laugh. "We should get out of here since we've got Padfoot now."

"James," Remus grabbed the other man's arm and nodded toward the cells where some of the inmates were watching them or murmuring nervously at the sight of Jack. "What about them? We've got to do something, they saw everything after all."

At first, James was going to brush all the prisoners off, after all they were insane what with being around Dementors day in and day out, who would believe anything they said? He then grimaced as he realized that while that might be true for one or two people, the whole block of inmates had either seen what happened or at least heard all the racket. The guards could brush off one or two crazy people, but if so many all said they saw the same thing… Well the guards would have no choice but to investigate.

"Bugger," he cursed softly then looked at Remus. "We'll have to obliviate all of them." They hadn't really planned this scenario and he only had himself to really blame. The original plan was to use the knock out gas on anyone awake, but then Bellatrix had opened her big mouth and got into a small pissing match with James. Then there was the swarm of Dementors coming to attack and Jack soundly kicking their phantom arses...if they had arses... Remus nodded his head in solemn agreement.

"I'll start on one end while you get the other," he stated then turned on his heel, heading for the other end of the hallway. James cursed again then turned to Jack.

"Jack, can you get Sirius out of here? We'll tie up the loose ends here, but it's better to get him out," he asked.

"Of course," Jack easily answered. James gave him a grateful smile then turned to Sirius who was gloating at Bellatrix, his insane cousin cursing at him and trying to reach the Black heir to cause him bodily harm.

"Pads," James laid his hand on Sirius's shoulder, getting his attention. "Come on, time to go."

"Hear that, Bella? It's been fun and all, but it seems our time is up!" Sirius taunted then turned his back on her, his face lit up in a grin that was a touch insane but mostly just tired. "Where to, Prongsie?"

"Sirius, this is Jack," James pulled Sirius over to the tall skeleton who gave him a friendly wave.

"A walk, talking, grinning skeleton… well this night just keeps getting better and better," Sirius said as he tilted back to look at Jack who easily towered over him. "Nice trick with the Dementors, I hate those bastards." Jack grinned and looked at James.

"I like him," he said. "I'll make sure he gets to the tunnel safely, just hurry."

"Don't worry, we will," James said watching as Jack and Sirius hurried off then turned to face Bellatrix's cell.

"You won't get away with this, Potter," Bellatrix spat, her face stretching out into a horrible grin. "I don't know how you came back from the dead, but the Dark Lord will come for you and your brat soon."

"You won't even remember to tell him, Trixie," James said with his own acidic grin. Part of him just wanted to kill the woman, she had killed so many during the war and done so gleefully. It would be so much better to off her and the rest of her kind in the other cells, it would be both justice and would deprive Voldemort, if somehow he was able to return, many of his most loyal servants. But the guards would certainly noticed if so many inmates just seemingly dropped dead and again, would bring too much attention to Sirius's old cell and a too soon discovery of the golem.

James lifted his hand, momentarily marveling as he often did since he died how he and Lily could easily wield magic without their wands, then coldly snapped, "obliviate!"

The spell hit Bellatrix full on in the face, knocking her onto her back with the force behind the spell, and James ripped the last couple of hours from her memories. He turned and headed for the next cell to repeat the process with each inmate until he and Remus had a floor full of dazed and confused prisoners.

"Come on, before they notice us again," Remus whispered, James nodded and followed his friend down the stairs. They didn't encounter any Dementors on the way out thankfully, leaving no trace of them ever being there. Remus shivered and pulled his robes around him tight as they ran back out into the rain, James taking a moment to re-lock the doors.

"Head on, I'll get these back to the guard house!" James called over the howling winds, holding the key ring up in his hand. Remus just nodded and turned, heading toward the burial grounds on the side of the island.

James peeked into the windows, satisfied to see his knockout gas was still working what with the guards still being out cold. Cracking the window open with a flick of his fingers, he floated the keys over to the table, and - like any good prankster - erased all evidence of his meddling by spelling away any rain that had flown in through the open window.

Heading quickly back to the mausoleum where the others would be waiting after shutting the window with a magical snap of his fingers, James couldn't help the grin that crossed his face. They had done it, they had successfully gotten Sirius out of Azkaban, all of their family was together again. He hoped no one would take too close of a look at the button-eyed golem for a while, giving them plenty of time for Sirius to heal and try to come up with some sort of new identify for his best friend.

Humming softly to himself, James was overjoyed that Harry would have both him and Lily and his two uncles in his life. He slipped past the broken door of the mausoleum, and flashed a cocky grin at his friends. They knew it was all taken care of.

Sirius slowly munched on yet another candy bar, letting the sweet chocolate lessen the lingering effects that the Dementors had on him, and looked at James then Remus then the tall skeleton James had called Jack. He was very confused by what was going on, and he was starting to think that this all may be real somehow, which didn't make a lick of sense! James was dead! Remus thought he was a traitor and a murderer, or at least Sirius assumed that was what Remus thought of him... And Jack… well Sirius wasn't sure what to make of him other than he so far liked the bony bloke.

"Prongs, I'm starting to think this isn't some sort of weird dream," he commented a touch too calmly.

"It isn't Padfoot," James said as he walked over and pulled Sirius into a hug. "You're free, mate."

"Oh… okay…" Sirius nonchalantly accepted before his eyes rolled back into his head, 4 years of physical and mental abuse finally catching up to him now that he could afford to relax. James yelped and staggered as he adjusted the other's dead weight.

"I'm not surprised he fainted," Remus said as he helped James lay Sirius out on the dusty floor. "He was holding up longer than I thought he would." He cast a warming spell over Sirius's shivering form, the drying spell he had cast on all of them only having helped with the situation of wet clothes.

"We need to get him home, get those healing potions in him," James said as he looked down sadly at his friend.

"Mobilicorpus," Remus flicked his wand at Sirius's body and gently lifted the unconscious wizard with the spell. Jack lifted the stone and held it out of the way as Remus, guiding Sirius, went down first, then James, and then followed behind them, pulling the stone back into place and leaving no trace... Well except a half eaten chocolate bar that Sirius had dropped when he fainted, but that was swiftly discovered the next day by a hungry seagull looking for food.

The trip back down the tunnel, Jack's fire engulfed hand lighting the way, was a quick but quiet one. James and Remus worried over their friend, remembering the grizzly condition that Sirius's body was currently in. It seemed like no time at all before they re-emerged in the graveyard outside of Halloween Town, and headed to the Potter house where Lily was waiting.

"How bad?" Lily asked as soon as the door opened.

"Bad," James said softly then looked around. "Harry asleep?"

"Yes," Lily confirmed, grabbing fresh bottles of potion then followed Remus up the stairs, the bedroom they prepared for Sirius ready and waiting. She gasped and looked away as the men spelled away the warm jumper, her green eyes closed for a moment. "God… poor Sirius."

"We got him now, Lily," James said, kissing her forehead as he held his wife. Lily nodded, taking the comfort her husband offered then turned to Sirius. Jack stood in the doorway watching as Lily, with James and Remus's help, got Sirius to swallow many of the healing potions that would start to fix the damage done to his body. Once they were done, they spelled the warm fleece pajamas Remus had picked up, covered in little black cartoon dogs, onto Sirius and drew the covers over him.

"He just needs rest now," Lily said as they exited and headed downstairs where some calming cups of tea were waiting for them.

"I should head back, let Sally know we got your friend," Jack softly remarked as he headed for the door. James quickly followed and stopped Jack at the front door.

"Jack! Thanks, mate, for everything," James said in a grateful tone. "You've done so much for me and my family; letting Harry stay, finding Lily and me, letting Remus move here and helping us save Sirius. It means a lot and I'm sure we all owe you a life debt." Jack's skeleton grin stretched out warmly and he laid a bony hand on James's shoulder.

"You and Lily are my friends, and Harry is a wonderful delight," Jack spoke sincerely. "You're friends are always welcome here, James, and I'm glad to help your friend. You don't owe me anything for that."

"Still… thanks," James said with a small bow of his head. Jack patted James's shoulder with another smile then headed off into the night.

* * *

Some hours later, Sirius tossed and turned in the bed caught in the grips of a nightmare. He dreamt of James, of Lily, of Remus and the most horrible of all, Harry. He dreamt of all of them being attacked by Dementors that gleefully sucked out their souls until there was nothing left but soul-less husks that stared out unseeing.

Sirius jerked awake with a scream caught in his throat, haunted gray eyes staring in the space in front of him but not taking anything in. His hands curled into the bed covers, his heart racing so fast and loud that it was amazing it didn't wake anyone else up in the house. It took several minutes for Sirius's mind to fully awaken, still caught in the lingering grips of his dreams. He breathed heavily, dropping his head into his hands to muffle any sobs that might escape; this had been one of the worst nightmares he had in the years he had been stuck in Azkaban. And after he had such a wonderful dream about seeing James and Remus again, of escaping that hell hole…

It slowly dawned on Sirius that something was different, that things had changed around him. First he noticed that it wasn't as cold as before; it was still chilly but not the same soul-numbing chill that Azkaban and its Dementors produced. It was more a pleasant chill of an autumn night. Second he realized how _quiet_ it was; there was no howling winds, no screams of his fellow prisoners, or rattling breaths of the spectral guards. No matter what time of day there were always screams and moans from those trapped within their own horrible memories brought on by the Dementors.

No, it was quiet now. Sirius could hear soft creaks and groans, could hear the hooting of an owl, the creak of a bed…

Lastly Sirius finally noticed that he was wearing something soft and warm, that he was sitting on something comfortable and warm. Lifting his head from his hands Sirius finally took in his surroundings, he was in a darkened room where with a sliver of light that poured from a window that was covered by think dark curtains Sirius could make out the large bed it was sleeping in, a crooked wardrobe and dresser, a desk with a chair, and other normal bedroom furniture.

Sirius looked down at himself, tugging at the soft, warm fleece top that he was now wearing. It was a far departure from the coarse too thin prison garb from before that had offered no warmth against the icy prison. Hold up an arm and squinting gray eyes, Sirius took a closer look at was on the top and snorted softly in amusement at the little cartoon dogs. It would have totally been something he would have gotten for himself as it appealed to his inner jokester.

Sirius wondered if this was some sort of bizarre dream or… if maybe he was dead… He reached up and rubbed his cheek, feeling the thick tangled beard he had grown since he didn't have access to any sort of groomer tools in a long time and concluded that he couldn't be dead or dreaming. If he had been dead or dreaming, Sirius liked to think he would appear as he had _before_ Azkaban when he was been in his prime. But if not a dream and not dead… what was going on?

He remembered again the dream, or what he thought was a dream, where he had been saved by James, Remus and that very odd, tall skeleton Jay or John… or was it Jack? Was that real? It couldn't be real, skeletons didn't just walk and talk on their own, they had to be directed by some very powerful and dark magics. And James was dead so there was no way his best friend had come to save him and Remus… well Remus _was_ a possibility but… his werewolf friend thought he was the traitor that sold out the Potter family no way would Remus go out of his way to save Sirius.

Yet the dream, or hallucination, had been so real. He could still hear the cackling gleeful laughter of that skeleton fellow as he attacked and beat off the Dementors. Could still taste the oh so wonderful chocolate on his tongue as it filled him with warmth in a way he never thought he would feel again.

Sirius rubbed the soft fleece between two fingers as he tried make sense of it all, his brow furrowed and his mouth drawn into a frown. Finally Sirius tossed the warm thick covered off over his legs and slid off the bed, his feet sinking into the thick plush rug on the floor. As he stood his legs shook a little, his whole body feeling a little weak, then strode over to the window to draw open the curtains.

Outside the world was washed in the silver light of the moon, giving off long shadows that gave everything a creepy vibe. It was like no place like Sirius had ever seen before, everything was crooked looking, made of dark woods and stone. He could see an alley way been whose ever house he was in, a black cat sitting on the stone wall grooming itself without a care.

Beyond the wall Sirius to make out a graveyard with uneven and crooked gravestones and mausoleums, a field of pumpkins lined the graveyard and beyond that Sirius could see a tall hill with prefect spiral curled underneath. Even further beyond all that he could see a dark forest with trees so tall they could rival the ones within the Forbidden Forest that surrounded Hogwarts and so dark inside he couldn't make out anything past the tree line.

Sirius's fingers clutched at the curtains as he tried to make any sense of it all. Where was he? How did he get here? Who brought him here? What his strange yet wonderful dream real or was something using the faces of his friends to gain his trust for some reason? And why would they bring him here? Were they hoping to get information on the Order of the Phoenix from him or… oh Merlin did it have to do something with Harry?

Sirius knew he had to find answers, he turned away from the window and in an instant shifted in his grim like dog form since offered him more protection as he had no wand to defend himself with.

Instantly Sirius's sensitive nose was slammed with all sorts of scents, the intensity of it making him stagger. There were so many scents, both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. There were two faint ones that he couldn't quite pick up on but something niggled at him that told him he knew the scents yet couldn't quite get enough to tell who it was. Remus's on the other hand was very strong and seem to surround him. Sirius's eyes closed and he swayed as he took in his friend's scent, Remus was _here_. He was nearby, oh Merlin how was that possible!?

Another scent under Remus's, one that Sirius couldn't place at first yet he just knew it was someone he knew. The owner of the scent was there in his doggy memories, it was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't put his paw on who it was…

It hit him all at once as he drifted closer to the door, his nose to the ground, a surprise yelp and his head jerking up as the answer dawned on him. _Harry!_ It was Harry's scent that was everywhere. It had changed a bit since the last time he had smelt it in his dog form, baby powder and sweets mixed in a scent that was uniquely his little Prongslet. Those scents were gone now but the core scent that belongs to Harry long was still there and Sirius eagerly followed his nose to where the scent was the strongest wanting to see his little godson more than anything.

The scents were the strongest two doors down from the room he woke up in, the door open just enough for Sirius's too thin dog form the slip inside. He gave the room a critical eye, books and toys were scattered all about and Harry's scent clung to every inch of the room. In the corner of the room was a bed where he could see a lump under the covers and a soft child's sigh escaping as Harry shifted in his sleep.

Sirius's heart thudded loudly, so much so he was almost afraid he would wake the sleeping child. He crept closer to the bed, putting his front paws on the edge and lifted himself up… only to give a surprised yelp and flung himself backwards to escape whatever had launched itself at him landing with a thug on the floor. He froze eyes wide wondering if the noise had awoken anyone, but Harry just mumbled in his sleep and Sirius couldn't hear anyone else moving about.

 _'What the bloody hell was that!?'_ Sirius though as he rolled back onto his paws and approached the bed from the end, cautiously peeking over the edge. It was… a toy? A freakish looking teddy bear that was all teeth and claws, stitched together like that muggle Frankenstein character. And it was watching him, sitting by Harry's head protectively as it watched Sirius with glowing red eyes. Sirius couldn't believe he had been scared by a bloody _toy bear_. Sirius snorted to himself at how ludicrous it was… then again the thing was pretty scary… no! Sirius shook his head and glared back at the toy, he would not be run off by a toy.

Sirius jumped onto the end of the bed, keeping his eyes on the toy the whole time. Mr. Bitey watched Sirius in return never leaving his spot as he watched over Harry in his sleep as his protector. The bear pointed two claws at his eyes then pointed at Sirius with a growl in a 'I'm watching you' gesture which made Sirius snort but made no moves to get closer to Harry for now.

Turning his attention to his godson, Sirius's heart melted and his tail thumped against the bed as he took in the soft sweet face of the tiny boy. Sirius had missed Harry so much, he had hated leaving the terrified boy with Hagrid but the half giant had refused to give Harry to him and Sirius hadn't wanted to hurt Harry by fighting Hagrid. So instead he gave Hagrid the keys to his beloved bike to get Harry to Dumbledore while he went after Pettigrew so he could clear his name and get the truth out. He had seen it in Hagrid's eyes, the kindly grounds keeper thought he was behind what had happen to Harry's family, that Sirius had been the secret keeper. This had been the whole point in switching keepers but ended up majorly biting him in the ass after Peter had sold out his friends to Voldemort and no one other than Sirius and Peter knowing the truth at that point.

Sirius curled up on the end of the bed, laying his head down on top of Harry's foot to watch him until his eyes grew heavy again and he drifted off to sleep, this time with much more peaceful dreams.


	17. Chapter 17

Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. Nightmare before Christmas is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. Corpse Bride is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. Beetlejuice is also property of Tim Burton.

Author note: This chapter has been done for a while but I haven't gotten it back from my beta yet so I'm guessing she's super busy with school related stuff so after such a long time I'm finally uploading it and I have been working on the next chapter. I've gone over the chapter several times trying to mend up my grammar and spelling errors but we all know I'm not the best at that so please excuse the ones I missed.

This chapter currently unbetaed, when I get the fixed chapter I'll update it.

Chapter 17

The next morning sunlight from the Jack-o-lantern shaped sun poured into Harry's room and across his bed, waking the tiny wizard. Harry sat up yawning and rubbing sleepily at his green eyes his messy black hair looking like a bird's nest on top of his head. He wondered if his Daddy and Uncle Moony found Mr. Padfoot the night before, taking him away from the bad jail. Something shifting and whining at the end of his bed made Harry jump and he pushed himself back against the headboard of his bed. Mr. Bitey jumped in front of him protectively, growling and baring his very sharp teeth and claws at the possible threat.

Wide eyed, Harry looked at the very big black dog lying on the end of his bed. It was bigger than any dog Harry seen before, which wasn't much since Ripper and Zero were the only dogs he ever really interacted with, but the black dog was _way_ bigger than Aunt Marge's bull dog Ripper was.

"N-nice doggy?" He said in a quivering voice, hoping that it was true. His experience with dogs was both horrible, thanks to Ripper chasing and biting Harry whenever Marge visited her brother Vernon, and good in the form of his best friend Zero.

Sirius whined softly and let his tail thump against the bed as he pressed himself into the covers trying to make himself look as harmless as possible. He didn't like seeing his little godson so scared of him, when Harry was a baby he loved to play with him in his dog form, but Harry wouldn't have any memories of that. He was also a tiny bit freaked out over that toy standing protectively in front of Harry, all teeth and stuffing. It had startled him the night before as well, lunging at him when Sirius first approached the bed, he thought it strange then too but Sirius had been paying more attention to Harry than the killer looking bear.

Harry froze as Sirius wiggled closer to him but… the big dog didn't look like it wanted to bite him or anything. Taking a chance Harry reached out toward the dog slowly, his little hand trembling in fear. Sirius whined and lifted his snout enough to lick at Harry's fingers, tail wagging harder as a giggle escaped Harry. Mr. Bitey tried to push his way between Harry and Sirius, growling at the wizard as Harry picked him and pulled him against Harry's chest.

"You're a nice doggy aren't you," Harry whispered as he moved closer to Sirius so he could pet him. Sirius was ecstatic as he felt Harry's hang gently run over his head and his matted fur, he couldn't believe he was _here_ with his _godson_. He still had _so_ many questions about what was going on, but right now just being with Harry was all he cared about.

"I wonder where you came from," Harry said as he scratched Sirius behind a floppy ear and giggled as one of Sirius's hind feet kicked at the bed. "I haven't seen any other doggys here, except for Zero. He's a ghost dog, he belongs to Mr. Jack but he plays with me all the time. There's a couple of black cats, some bats and big black birds, but no dogs. Do you belong to Mr. Padfoot?" Sirius woofed and wiggled closer until he could lay his head in Harry's lap then started a staring contest with Harry's weird toy bear that glared back at him. Harry giggled again and petted Mr. Bitey on the head.

"Be nice," he said. "He's a nice doggy." Mr. Bitey seemed to grumble but settled down with his arms crossed over his chest and hunched in on himself like he was pouting. Sirius was a bit impressed, he never seen a level of life-likeness in a charmed object before, he wondered who had placed the spell on the toy.

"I found him!" Remus's sudden voice instantly pulled Sirius out of his Harry-time bliss and his head turned toward the door. Remus stood in the doorway with a fond gentle smile on his face; he looked a little older and a little more wore out. There looked to be a new scar or two on his friend's face and a bit more gray in his hair. Sirius barked and leaped off the bed, running across the small space and jumping up on Remus. Of course, Sirius's canine form wasn't in any form small even as skinny and underfed as it was and he easily knocked over the surprised werewolf. "Ack! Sirius! Stop!"

Remus was laughing as he half hardly attempted to push Sirius off him, Sirius wiggling and jumping like an excited pup that hadn't seen their favorite person in forever, his tail wagging in overtime and licking Remus's face. It was damn good to see Sirius still had his playful spirit, that the Dementors and Azkaban hadn't broken that out of his friend.

"Alright alright!" Remus yelled and pushed Sirius back off of him. "Enough Padfoot!" Sirius finally backed off, prancing in place like any normal excited dog. Remus chuckled and stood up wiping dog slobber off his face with the sleeve of his shirt. "Ugghh, dog breath. Harry, come here."

Harry slid off his bed with Mr. Bitey tucked under one arm, and ran over to his adopted uncle. Remus picked him with ease and set Harry on his hip.

"When did you get a doggy, Uncle Moony?" Harry asked figuring he was wrong about Sirius's dog form being a pet of Mr. Padfoot and was really Uncle Moony's.

"Well he's not really _my_ dog, cub," Remus said. Sirius gave him a doggy grin before changing back with a soft pop. Harry gasped in shock and awe, hiding his face against Remus's neck as he was still shy around new people.

"You wound me, Moony, I thought we had something," Sirius said with a dramatic flair. Remus rolled his eyes chuckling.

"Goof," he said fondly.

"Uncle Moony," Harry whispered as he shyly peeked out at Sirius who was watching them both. "Uncle Mooney, he was a dog."

"Yes he was, cub," Remus agreed amused.

"How?" Harry asked insanely curious, he loved seeing magic used.

"Well some people can use their magic to turn into an animal, Harry," Remus explained.

"Oh… can I do it?" Harry asked. He thought it might be fun to be a puppy or maybe a kitten so he could play with the kitties in the town.

"Maybe one day, it's a very hard magic to learn. But I'm sure when you're old enough, your daddy and uncle Padfoot will happily teach you how," Remus said then looked at Sirius. "Isn't that right, Paddy?"

"Y-yeah, I'll help teach you all kind of things," Sirius instantly agreed giving Harry a smile as the tiny boy shyly looked up at him through his hair that hung in front of his eyes.

"Can you turn into an animal, Uncle Moony?" Harry asked.

"No, cub," Remus said with a small shake of his head and a small smile. "I'm a werewolf remember? My furry form is my other form, I can't be an Animagus like the others. Come on, breakfast is waiting. You too, Sirius." Remus turned and carried Harry toward the stairs.

"Remy, what is going on?" Sirius asked as he followed his friend and godson.

"How much you remember from last night?" Remus asked looking over his shoulder.

"I'm… I'm not sure?" Sirius's tone was questioning. "A lot of it feels like a dream, I'm not sure how much was real. I remember you but… the rest of it can't be true. James? That skeleton fellow?"

"Both there, that was Jack by the way," Remus descended the stairs to the ground floor, one hand on the rail.

"That was the name," Sirius murmured to himself then looked at Remus again. "But… but… _how?!_ "

"Just ask Prongs and Lily yourself," Remus said with a grin as he turned into the kitchen. Sirius stopped in the doorway, his mouth open in shock as he saw James sitting at the table in the middle of the room and Lily standing at the stove cooking.

"Daddy!" Harry said wiggling to get down and ran over to James who picked him up and sat him in his lap. "Daddy, can I be a puppy? Or a kitten?"

"What brought this question on, Prongslet?" James asked a smile on his face as Harry told him how Sirius had been a really big dog then changed into a person. Sirius just continued to stand in the doorway staring in shock, taking his best friend and best friend's wife in.

They looked the same as they did the last day he saw them alive on that Halloween morning when he visited. James wore the same dark blue knitted jumper and tanned slacks, his round wire framed glasses perched on his nose. Hair was still the same messy black mop that was shared by his son, eyes still a bright hazel behind his glasses. Lily wore a long sleeve blue top and black jeans, her fiery red hair swept over her shoulders. The only different between then and now were their skin tones. James and Lily skin had a blue tint to it, James a little darker then Lily's.

"How…" Sirius said softly.

"Oh for Merlin's sakes, sit down before you fall down, Sirius," Lily said pointing at a chair with a spatula. "And drink those, they'll help you heal." Sirius sat down heavily at the chair Lily had pointed at and looked down in front of him. There were a couple of vials of potions sitting next to a cup of hot chocolate. When Lily gave him a pointed look Sirius grabbed the vials, popped off the tops, then swallowed the contents of both vials with a grimace. He immediately picked up the cup of hot cocoa to chase away the lingering taste.

"Ugh, that's nasty," he said.

"But it will help you recover," Lily told him, setting out a plate of soft scrambled eggs and a small bowl of porridge in front of him. Having nothing but tasteless gruel for years the food tasted like heaven.

Sirius lifted his eyes and watched the others between bites of his breakfast. Harry was sitting in a chair now next to James who was regaling him with tales of running around as a stag with Sirius as a dog. The tiny boy was enraptured by the story looking up at his father with awe. Remus was chuckling and adding in his two cents telling Harry about an awkward Prongs who got his antlers stuck in a tree branch one time.

It was… so normal. How he might have imagined it so long ago before they heavily got involved in the war or trying to imagine a perfect world where Harry could grow up safe and loved like any other wizarding child instead of hiding from an insane over powered dark lord. Yet, Sirius knew this shouldn't be possible! His mind was working overtime trying to puzzle out how James and Lily were there when he knew they should be dead and buried in the ground.

Lily watched Sirius out of the corner of her eye, watching the range of emotions on Sirius's face as he attempted to wrap his head around what was going on. She was content to let him settle a bit before they began explaining though she would wait until Harry was out of the room before she grilled him to find out why he hadn't taken Harry after they died and instead had gone chasing after Peter.

' _Oh yes,'_ Lily thought to herself as she took a sip of her morning tea. _'He's got a lot to explaining to do about that.'_

Lily and James didn't need to eat or drink; it was just one of those things that came with being dead. But just because they didn't _need_ it didn't mean they couldn't enjoy it. There was always food and drink aplenty in the Land of the Dead, Bonejangle's club had some of the best spirits that could be found underground, and the dead liked to spend their time drinking and swapping stories of the land of the living. Sleep was also a nice guilty pleasure that wasn't needed but didn't stop many of the dead from taking a nice long nap just because they could.

"I'm sorry," Sirius said finally having reached the end of his rope. "But just what is going on? _How?_ I mean, aren't you…"

"Dead?" Lily finished for him ignoring the flinch that came from Sirius.

"Y-yeah," Sirius agreed. James sighed and pushed his half empty plate away, propping his elbows on the table and giving Sirius a very serious look.

"The afterlife is nothing like anyone thought it was," James started with, retelling the tale of his and Lily's time in the Land of the Dead, Harry finding his way to Halloween Town, and the town's leader Jack coming to find him and Lily to offer them a new home with their son. How they had made rooms for Remus and Sirius then finishing off with how they came up with the plans to get Sirius out of Azkaban.

At some point during the explanation, Remus had taken Harry out of the room to get washed up and dressed for the day. Both had already heard or lived through the tale and right now Sirius needed this time with the elder Potters.

"Bloody hell… that's amazing," Sirius said once James had finished. "I would almost think all this was something the Dementors put in my head somehow but it seems too real to be a hallucination."

"It's not a hallucination," Lily said as she laid a gentle hand on Sirius's arm and gave it a gentle comforting squeeze. Sirius noticed her flesh was cool, cold even without the warmth of life. Yet it was still warmer than the chill that still lingered from his time in Azkaban. Tears pooled at the corners of Sirius's gray eyes and he bowed his head.

"James, Lily, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault," he said. He had wanted to say those words for years, since that horrible Halloween night. James rolled his eyes and moved to the chair on Sirius's other side.

"No it's not, Padfoot," James said.

"Yes it is," Sirius argued as he looked up at his best friend frowning. " _I'm_ the one who suggested you switch keepers so I'm the one who-"

"Oh for goodness sakes, Sirius," Lily interrupted with a roll of her eyes. "Do you think we're incapable of telling you no? We agreed with your idea, it wasn't a bad one honestly."

"The only ones we can blame for our deaths are 'Who-know-who' and Peter," James agreed with his wife. "Peter was the one who sold us out and _He's_ the one who killed us."

"But… but…" Sirius had a hard time letting go of the blame. He should have never suggested the switch to start with; he would have died first before giving away the Potter's location.

"If you're to blame then we are too," Lily commented she as stood up and started gathering dishes to put in the sink to wash later. Sirius looked confused for a second.

"Wait, what? Just how are you to blame?" he asked.

"Easy, we trusted Peter as much as you did. We _all_ trusted Peter, both us and those in the Order," Lily explained with her hands on her hips. "I don't think _anyone_ , including Dumbledore, suspected Peter."

"Pettigrew put on a good innocent act," James agreed in a tone that said he wished he didn't. "We're so use to him staying in the background and keeping out of trouble, we forgot he did his share of pranks back when we were at Hogwarts and never got caught."

"We had no reason not to trust him," Lily added. "And he seemed so loyal to James and you, why wouldn't we trust him." Sirius could see what his friends were trying to say, they had all trusted Wormtail and had gone along with Sirius's suggestion of switching secret keepers with no fuss. It did relieve some of the grief Sirius held to know James and Lily didn't blame him but deep down Sirius still felt he was at fault. "But there is one thing I would like to know," Lily said in a tone that had an edge to it. Sirius swallowed feeling the danger in the air.

"And… umm… what is that?" he asked. Lily leaned against the table staring Sirius straight in the eye.

"I want to know why you didn't take Harry, your godson _my baby_ , after we died and went chasing after Pettigrew instead," she demanded. Sirius gave a mirthless laugh and crossed his arms over his chest, hunching into himself a bit.

"I didn't _want_ to leave Harry, Merlin knows I would have taken him if I could, but I didn't want him to get hurt if I tired," he said.

"Okay, I think you better start at the beginning," James said. He wanted to know just as much as Lily did as to why Sirius didn't take Harry and why he ended up at Lily's bitch of a sister's house. "Tell us what happened after we died."

"You don't know?" Sirius asked. James and Lily had only explained a little bit about the Land of the Dead, they had not said whether or not the dead were able to watch the living.

"No, one moment I was fighting off _Him_ trying to give Lily time to run to safety with Harry, then I had a killing curse tossed at me then next I thing I know I'm in Bonejangles's place," James explained.

"The same for me, that bastard killed me after I refused to move out of the way," Lily sat back down with a sigh. "Then I'm in the afterlife. What little we know we got from other witches and wizards that passed after us."

"Oh…" Sirius said then sighed as he leaned forward clasping his hands in front of him, starting his tale. "You remember that morning right? I visited the cottage, played with Harry and updated you on what was going on."

"Yeah, we remember that," James said.

"Well after I left, nothing really happened. I ran a few errands for Dumbledore and the Order, things like that. That night I went to go check on Peter, it had been a couple of days since I heard from him and wanted to see how he was holding up," Sirius continued then sighed heavily as he buried his face into his hands. "When I got to Peter's home, it was dark and the door swung open when I pressed on it. I called his name but never got an answer. The house was cold, like no one had been there for a couple of days. There were no clues anywhere what had happen to him and I started to worry. Then… I felt it… I felt the magic of the fidelius charm just… just snap. And I _knew_ something had happened and I needed to get to Potter's Cottage.

"I knew I couldn't apparate, I was so worried that I knew I would splinch myself if I tried so I jumped on my bike and gunned it, racing to the house. Merlin, it was awful," Sirius's voice was thick with grief, James placed his hand on Sirius's shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. Sirius swallowed past the lump in his throat and forced himself to continue. "The roof of the house was half gone, most of the damage was over where Harry's room was. I jumped off my bike and ran to the door, screaming your names. That's when Hagrid came out of the house."

"Hagrid?" James asked leaning back in surprise.

"What was Hagrid doing there?" Lily questioned just as confused.

"I asked him the same thing, he said Dumbledore sent him to get Harry," Sirius explained. "He told me you two were," here Sirius swallowed in remembered grief again, "gone. That's when I saw Harry in his arms, alive and blinking sleepily as he looked around. When he saw me, he started reaching for me and saying 'Padfoot' in that really adorable way of his. I reached up to take Harry from Hagrid but he just pulled Harry away from me.

"I said 'Hagrid, give me Harry. He's my godson, I have to look after him now.' Or something like that, but he kept insisting that he needed to take Harry to Dumbledore. That's when I saw the look in Hagrid's eyes and _knew_ ; he wasn't going to let me take Harry. You know Hagrid, he wears his heart on his sleeve and can't keep any emotions off his face, he thought I was the secret keeper and had sold you two out to Voldy-butt. I don't blame him, that was the whole point of switching keepers, so people would believe I was the one protecting you three and come after me."

"Hagrid should have known you would never betray us like that," James said with a shake of his head.

"So he wouldn't give you Harry at all?" Lily asked. Sirius shook his head, his tangled greasy hair swinging with the motion.

"No, he made sure to keep Harry out of my reach and wouldn't give the pup to me no matter how much Harry reached out to me or called for me. And what was I suppose to do? Fling spells at Hagrid to get him to drop Harry? He's a half giant, he's pretty resistant to a lot of spells and I didn't want to chance hitting Harry," he said with a deep huffing sigh.

"Why didn't you just go with Hagrid to Dumbledore, explain that we had switched," James asked.

"It never crossed my mind, never had a chance to think really. While I was arguing with Hagrid, I saw Peter out of the corner of my eye," Sirius growled softly. "I saw that he looked unharmed except the fact he was clutch at his arm like it pained him. His _left_ arm. That's when I knew, he hadn't been captured and forced to give up your location he had done so willing. Suddenly it all made sense; he was the one who was traitor not Remus. He was the one who gave away so much information that ended up killing so many people we knew. Those meetings of the Order of the Phoenix that we thought he wasn't there, he had to have snuck in and spied on us in his rat form.

"The secrecy, all the times Peter was nervous, all the times he was 'visiting' his Mum…" Sirius shook his head, his lip curling into a snarl. "He was the one who first suggested that Remus might be the spy to me. I didn't believe him at first, but he kept pushing and some of the stuff he said made so much sense at the time but… looking back on it, it was pretty clear it was him the whole time."

"We pretty much had the same clarity dawn on us, after we arrived in the Land of the Dead," James said with a sigh as he rubbed at his forehead.

"Yeah… I don't know why Pettigrew stuck around until then but as soon as he noticed I had seen him, he apparated away," Sirius continued on. "I don't think Hagrid even heard the crack of apparition that rat made, not over Harry's cries and his own words of getting Harry to the Headmaster. I knew I had to go after Pettigrew before he fled England completely; I was the only one left who knew about the switch. So I told Hagrid to take my bike and use it to get Harry to Dumbledore, I assumed that Dumbledore would get Harry to Alice and Frank since Alice is Harry's godmother, then I went after Peter."

Lily was still fuming a bit, she thought Sirius should have at least gone to Dumbledore but things were chaotic at that time and at least Sirius hadn't just up and abandoned Harry without least trying to take responsibility for his godchild. And Sirius was right; Harry could have been hurt by accident if he had fought with Hagrid as stubborn as the gentle half giant was being about keeping Harry away from Sirius.

"It took me hours to track Wormtail down, I had to dodge Aurors who were attempting to arrest me for being a Death Eater or in some cases straight up kill me," Sirius had carried on with his tale. "Until finally I shook off the Aurors chasing me and cornered Wormy on a busy street with muggles."

"That was when he blew up the street," James assumed.

"You heard about that then?" Sirius asked in a tired tone.

"It wasn't until a few days afterward we learned about it, the same time we learned people thought _you_ were the one who betrayed us and had been tossed into that awful prison," Lily said. "We found some of the muggles who had been killed and asked them what happened, they told us about the argument and Peter blowing the street up. And cutting off his finger."

"So I assume Peter wasn't there with you guys," Sirius rubbed the side of his face. "I was never completely sure if he killed himself or not."

"No, Peter's wasn't there," James agreed. Sirius sighed with a shake of his head.

"That traitorous rat is still alive then and still out there somewhere," he said.

"And we have no way of knowing where, until he shows himself," James agreed.

"I'm still angry about what happened but having all the facts and knowing the hell you went through afterward, I can forgive you," Lily said. "Dumbledore not so much."

"Why? What did he do?" Sirius asked confused.

"Harry's been living with Petunia," James explained, in telling Sirius of just how Harry found Halloween Town, he never said just _where_ or with _who_ Harry was living with at the time. Sirius frowned to himself then looked at Lily confused.

"Your sister? The one you told us was so awful to you cause you're a witch?" he asked. "Why the bloody hell would Harry go there?! I knew he didn't end up with Frank and Alice, not after Bellatrix,the Lestrange brothers and Barty Jr. were tossed into cells next to me at chez-Azkaban, but your muggle sister? Why?"

"That's just it, we don't know," James said with a sigh as he rubbed his forehead.

"Remus told us he was always told Harry was living someplace he would be safe and wouldn't have the fame of being the 'Boy-who-lived' putting constant pressure on him, making him as big-headed as James use to be," Lily said. "Or something like that."

"But… but… your sister hates magic! And she's still with that fat muggle isn't she? Didn't you say he was worse?" Sirius gestured wildly.

"Vernon certainly was and is a bastard," James agreed.

"Yeah, so why would the Headmaster put the pup with them? You've always talked about how bad your sister was," Sirius asked. Lily sighed and rubbed her face tiredly.

"Well do be fair, I've never discussed my issues with Petunia with Dumbledore or any of our old professors," she rationalizes reluctantly. "So it could be he just didn't know." James snorted softly, his lip curled in anger.

"Doesn't matter if you told him or not, it says in black and white on our wills that Harry was to _never_ go anywhere near your sister or her family," he pointed out. "We both had a whole list of people who was to raise Harry, our old Headmaster either never read our wills or just ignored what we had wanted. I'm more inclined to believe the former only due to the fact that Sirius wouldn't have gone to prison since we stated that we had switched keepers."

"When did you do that?" Sirius asked as his mind tried to work over this new information.

"The morning we set the charm," Lily started to explain, "we let early to Gringotts to update our wills. Neither of us wanted to leave anything to chance."

"Fat lot of good it did us," James grunted in anger. Lily sighed but agreed with her husband.

"Merlin, what a mess," Sirius said with a sigh as he rubbed his face with both hands tiredly. James sighed, stood, then clasped Sirius's shoulder.

"It's a lot to take in, and you're recovering from Azkaban," he said. "There's more to tell you but let's not dump it all on you at once. Why don't head up for a kip, if you were sleeping in Harry's room you couldn't have gotten much sleep."

"I want a hot bath more," Sirius said. "I've got years of Azkaban on me and I know I look horrible."

"There's the old vain Padfoot I know," James said laughing.

"The bathroom is on the first floor," Lily told Sirius as she also stood. "I'm going to go rescue Harry from Remus, I'm sure he's been keeping Harry distracted while we talked."

"Good ol' Moony," Sirius laughed as he pushed away from the table and stood up with a groan. The last few years of abuse was starting to get to him and a real hot shower was so appealing. And he needed time to think, to come to terms with everything he learned today and time under a hot shower was just the ticket.


	18. Chapter 18

Nightmare Before Hogwarts

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. Nightmare before Christmas is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. Corpse Bride is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. Beetlejuice is also property of Tim Burton.

Author note: Hey guys. Now I'm sure a lot of you are going "where the heck have you been!? You haven't updated this in a while" or something like that. Well the simple truth is I've had very little time to work on writing, we're shorthanded at the place I work which means I've been working extra hours during the week and sometimes extra days, so most evenings I'm just so tired that I can't even think straight much less work on stories. It sucks, I won't lie, the extra money is nice but I'm more than ready to get back to a normal work week so I won't be so tired out all the time. I try to write on my days off but sometimes that doesn't work out either because I've got to catch up on other stuff I pushed off during the week.

So updates are gonna continue to be slow for a while longer, hopefully we'll get someone hired that will stay working and I can get back to writing and posting more.

Also wanted to tell everyone that WikiSorcerer went and made a nice little page for this fic on the TV Tropes website which is really cool and you should check out what he made, just look under Fanfic/TheNightmareBeforeHogwarts on the site.

Lastly, due to real life, Werejaguar of Halloween Town who had been betaing this fic for me has had to pull out so I want to thank her for all the work and ideas she helped me with on this story. So this fic is once again without a proof reader for now until I can get someone to take that over.

As always, y'all are great and enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 18

Sirius gave the bathroom an amused look as he closed the door behind him, like the rest of the house it had that twisted gothic look to it. In a way it reminded him of his childhood home, 12 Grimmauld Place, as it too had a dark a twisted look to it after years and years of dark magic and curses being cast in the home. Yet somehow this place was a lot more charming and would send his mother into fits if she ever saw this place.

As Sirius striped off the pajamas, leaving a trail of clothing on the floor as he crossed the room to the large claw foot tub and turned the water as hot as he thought he could stand it, he couldn't help but wonder if his 'dear' old mother was still among the living or not. Not that he really truly cared if she was in fact he hoped she wasn't.

Walburga Black was a horrible twisted woman who spouted praises of Pureblood families, of which the Black family was the best in her and many other Black family members opinions, and curses toward anyone else. She hated muggles, muggle-borns and non-humans with a passion and thought they didn't deserve a place in a proper wizarding world. She was a horrible mother as well, she had never liked Sirius who had a mind of his own and refused to follow the family teachings. On the other hand she doted on Sirius's younger brother Regulus since the day his baby brother was born making sure Sirius knew Reggy has been the favored son.

Walburga had been determined that Sirius would fit the mold of a 'proper' pureblood using curses and punishments via her crazy House Elf Kreacher, someone else whom Sirius hated with all his heart. Once he started Hogwarts and was sorted into Gryffindor, his mother liked to compare Sirius to Severus Snape, whom she would sniff at as he was a half blood but would comment he acted more like a proper wizard than Sirius did. That was one of the reasons why Sirius hated Snape so much, being compared to the greasy git by his mother. Everything had come to a head in Sirius's fifth year before Christmas holidays after he had ended up telling Snape how to get past the Whomping Willow after the other then teen wouldn't stop following them around and taunting Sirius that he knew something was up with Remus.

Sirius winced in remembrance, that hadn't been one of his smarter ideas. He hadn't, at the time, wanted to kill Snape as much as he hated the other man and hadn't wanted to get Remus into trouble. He had just been so frustrated with Snape following them around all the time, at that point the pranks has been mostly harmless and they hadn't targeted Snape solely despite what the man thought, but Snape had been determined to get them all into trouble and Sirius had in a moment of not thinking told Snape how to get past the willow.

Honestly, Sirius didn't think Snape would have listened to him and had put it out of his mind until a couple of days later when he and James had been watching the Marauders Map, an ingenious piece of charmed parchment the Marauders had made. It hadn't been in its final complete form at the time as they were still mapping the castle and working out the charms for the parchment to do what they wanted, but it had been enough for Sirius and James to see Snape heading toward the willow as they had been watching the parchment waiting for Madame Pomfrey to leave so they could head down to keep Moony company. That was when Sirius had remembered the conversation with Snape and confessed to James what he had done.

James had yelled at Sirius as they raced for the willow which Snape had already paralyzed by pressing the knot at the base of the tree and down the tunnel for James to pull Snape away just in the to keep Remus in his werewolf form from biting the Slytherin, saving Snape's life. The time between that incident and Christmas holidays hadn't been fun, Remus and James had both been angry at him and Sirius had been alone. Even Peter had pulled away taking the pair's side, not that Sirius blamed any of them. And despite what Snape would claim, Sirius _had_ been punished for the incident with loss of points and detention though only the professors knew the reason; his fellow students at the time had just assumed Sirius had been caught pulling a prank. He had let them believe that to keep Remus's secret.

Then came the winter holidays and his father, Orion Black, had sent a message that Sirius _would_ be coming home instead of staying at the school like he originally planned. His parents had learned that he had nearly gotten a student killed, his mother had been ecstatic since it was in her words 'just a half blood' which the world would be better off without. It hadn't even mattered that it was the same half blood she constantly compared Sirius to, Walburga had just assumed Sirius had finally 'seen the light' so to speak and was ready to act like a proper Black even going as far as saying Sirius could use the incident to get the attention of the Dark Lord.

Boy had she be livid when Sirius had popped that little fantasy of hers. He had sworn to never join her 'beloved' Dark Lord and said a lot of things that he had wanted to say for years to both Walburga and Orion. His parents had been beyond livid and Sirius remembered a few curses thrown his way as he scrambled to his room, decorated in scantily clad muggle girl pinups, Gryffindor banners and posters and Quidditch memorabilia of his favorite team. Sirius had packed things important to him that he couldn't leave behind into his school trunk that hadn't been unpacked yet, shrinking it down and quickly flying out his bedroom window on his broom before either his parents or Kreacher could stop him, disregarding that he was breaking the rules about underage magic since he knew very well any magic done would be pinned on the adults.

Once far enough away from the house Sirius had landed and quickly called for the Knight Bus, a triple-decker purple bus that some witches and wizards used to get around on. Sirius had the bus take him to the Potter manor where despite the fact James was still a little angry over what happened, had taken one look at his friend and quickly got him inside. The only thing Sirius regretted was that he hadn't been able to take Regulus with him, maybe save him from his fate in the future. Yes, Sirius didn't get along with his sibling as they had drifted apart thanks to Sirius being sorted into Gryffindor and because of their parents but Sirius still loved his little brother deep down.

The best thing about that holiday, other than patching things up with James then later Remus, was that Sirius never had to go back to live with his parents ever again after that, all thanks to his great uncle-in-law Charlus Potter who was visiting that same Christmas. Charlus was Fleamont Potter's younger brother, which make him James's uncle as well, and was married to Sirius's great aunt Dorea Potter nee Black on his mother's side of the Black family, one of the few relatives from his family that he liked other than his uncle Alphard and his cousin Andromeda. Charlus and Dorea had arranged it with his grandfather Arcturus Black, who was still the head of the Black family, for Sirius to live with Fleamont and Euphemia Potter until he graduated Hogwarts. How they convinced his Grandfather agree to that Sirius had no idea but he had been grateful for it.

Speaking of, Sirius wondered if that old bastard was still alive. Not that he really cared but he supposed he should see who was still alive and who bit the dust. He also needed to somehow see how Andy was doing, was her daughter Nymie in Hogwarts yet? He was sure she was and wondered what house she had been sorted into, Slytherin like her mum or maybe Hufflepuff like her dad. Sirius was rooting for the Puffs, the Slytherin house wouldn't be kind to a Half-blood like Nymphadora especially one who's mother had been disowned by the Black family.

Sirius sighed loudly and leaned his head back, letting the hot water wash over him, there was so much to catch up on yet at the same time he had to be careful so he wouldn't be captured again. He doubted that if he was they would toss him back into Azkaban, no this time they would more than likely either give him the Kiss or straight out kill him.

Sirius finally roused himself enough from his memories and thoughts to finally get to cleaning himself. He washed off layers of dirt that had clung to his skin even after Remus's cleaning spell, leaving behind too pale skin that hadn't seen the sun in a long time. He washed his hair as well though that looked like it would be a fruitless effort, his hair was so tangled that it was near impossible to run his fingers through the black strands. And there was quite a bit considering that Sirius had kept his hair long, at least a little past his shoulders, both at Hogwarts and after up until Azkaban. They hadn't even bothered cutting his hair before being thrown into his cell leaving it to grow to the length it was now. After a while he gave up getting it untangled and finished his shower.

Stepping out of the tub, Sirius shivered as the much cooler air of the bathroom hit his wet skin, and grabbing a towel that was sitting on a shelf to vigorously dry himself off while walking over to the sink that had a mirror over it. He stared at the fogged up mirror not sure if he was ready to see himself just yet, not sure if he was ready to face and really see the damages the few short years in prison had done to him.

"Come on, Padfoot ol' boy, where is that Gryffindor courage," Sirius whispered to himself then placed his hand flat against the mirror, swiping it to the right. Condensation that clung to the reflective surface gathered and pooled against the side of Sirius's hand then ran in rivulets both over his skin and down the glass of the mirror. He made two more swipes in a zigzag motion clearing the mirror enough to see. Sirius gave a small bark of laughter before saying to himself as he leaned closer, "well I won't be winning any beauty pageants any time soon. Merlin, I look worse that I thought."

Sirius took in the shrunken cheeks and hallowed eyes, the dark rings that made him look like a raccoon, the gnarled tangled mess his hair and beard was in… He took a step back so he could see his upper torso in the mirror and winced as he looked at himself. Sirius had somewhat of an idea of the condition his body was in having felt himself while he washed, but seeing it somehow made it so much worse.

"Merlin, I look like a walking skeleton," he said with a shake of his head. "And even the only walking skeleton I've met looks better than I do." Gazing a few more minutes at his reflection, Sirius thought he could easily pull off the looks of one of the mad Blacks, he finally turned away and hitched the towel high on his bony hips. The hair was a lost cause he decided and he felt it was time he changed his looks anyway.

Sirius stood in the hallway looking at all the doors as he tried to remember which one he had awoken in, he knew the one at the end was Harry's but… he couldn't remember which one he had come out of, too focused on following Harry's scent as Padfoot.

"Mr. Padfoot?" Sirius turned to the sound of Harry's voice, the little boy peeking out of the doorway of his room. "Why are you standing in the hallway?"

"Hey there, Prongslet," Sirius said giving his godson a sheepish smile. "I sorta forgot which room is mine… mind helping your forgetful dogfather out?" Harry seemed to hesitate for a moment then came out of his room, Mr. Bitey trailing behind him. Sirius got the very distinct feeling that 'Mr. Bitey' didn't like him at all if the look the toy was giving him was anything to go by. Harry took his hand and guided him to a room he had seen his parents and Uncle Moony set up for Sirius. "Thanks, pup…. You can come in if you want. I missed you very much while I was gone Harry."

Harry seemed to think about it for a moment then followed Sirius into the room, climbing into the plush black chair by the window. Mr. Bitey climbed up after him, sitting down in Harry's lap so the boy could hug him.

"Mr. Padfoot?" Harry asked eyes adverted as Sirius dressed into more of the comfy looking pajamas that had been bought for him.

"Hmm?" Sirius's answering hum was muffled by the top as he pulled it on. Harry's green eyes glanced up at Mr. Padfoot, taking in the pale skin that was pulled taunt over ribs. It reminded Harry of how he looked, 'skin and bones' his mummy had called it due to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon not feeding him very much. He was starting to fill out, gaining back the baby fat and weight that he should be for his age bit by bit, but he hadn't been as bad off as Mr. Padfoot was now. "Did you say something, pup?"

Harry blinked at looked up at Sirius again, blushed then ducked his head shyly as he traced his finger over Mr. Bitey's patchwork stitches.

"What's a 'dogfather'?" he asked. Sirius sat on the edge of the bed facing Harry, thinking for a second of inviting Harry to sit on the bed with him but quickly discarding that thought as he didn't want to make Harry uncomfortable in any way.

"Well, it's sorta a joke because I'm your godfather; do you know what that is?" Sirius asked. Harry nodded.

"Daddy said that means you picked you to take care of me when he and Mummy died," Harry said. "But you didn't get to take care of me cause you were in the bad jail and my godmother is really sick so she couldn't take me either so I went to Aunt Petunia." Lily and James had taken a bit of time to explain to Harry why he hadn't gone to his other chosen guardian Alice in a very kid friendly way, saying she was sick in a way she couldn't take care of herself and lived at a hospital because of that. They hadn't, of course, wanted to go into any great detail of what happened to her or Frank but had wanted Harry to know people hadn't just abandoned him to Lily's older sister. Harry thankfully was very smart, even if he did act a little younger than his current age, and had understood enough to know everything was out of his control and nothing was his fault.

"Yes, that's right," Sirius said. "And believe me, Harry, I would have taken you in a heartbeat but things got really out of control and I was put away without being able to tell the truth. But I never stopped loving you like my own kid." Harry smiling shyly up at him, face pressed against his toy. Sirius's heart melted, he didn't understand how anyone couldn't love this adorable little boy. "Anyway you saw how I turned into a dog right? Well since I turn into dog a lot your dear old dad called me your 'Dogfather' and it just stuck."

"Oh… does that make me the 'dogson'?" Harry asked watching confused as Sirius snorted softly as if trying to hold in laughter then gave up, falling over onto his side on the bed as he giggled madly. Harry and Mr. Bitey traded confused looks then Harry started giggling as well. He didn't understand what Sirius found so funny but laughter was infectious and had the young boy laughing as well. The others downstairs heard the laughter, looking at each other curious, before James stood and headed up.

Following the sounds of the laughter, James grinned as he leaned against the door frame of Sirius's room watching his best friend crack-up like hyena on the bed and his beloved son giggling his heart out in a chair across the room.

"What's so funny?" he asked. Harry's face lit up and slid off the chair, running over to James with his arms held up.

"Daddy!" James grinned and swept Harry up, setting the young Potter on his hip. "I asked Mr. Padfoot was a 'dogfather' is and then I asked if I was the 'dogson'. Then Mr. Padfoot started laughing."

"Dogson!" Sirius repeated with a grin and his laughter started up again. James chuckled and shook his head then leaned close to Harry.

"Paddy is just easily amused, Prongslet," he said in a stage whisper. "Don't mind him. Why don't we let Mr. Padfoot take a nap for now, he's still got to recover a lot more."

"Okay," Harry agreed easily and wiggled to be let down. He picked up Mr. Bitey and ran out of the room to go downstairs.

"Well you're looking a bit better, Padfoot," James said as he collapsed in the chair Harry had been sitting in. Sirius snorted as he came down from his laughing high then yawned widely.

"I still looked like a mad hobo," he said as he rolled over onto his back with a groan, one arm draped across his eyes, his tangled beard scratched against his arm as if proving his point.

"I don't know, it could be a new look for you," James teased then laughed as Sirius gave him a lazy two-finger salute.

"Wanker," Sirius said his voice tired. Everything was catching up to him, the adrenaline bleeding out of his body know that he was fed, washed and safe. He was just so tired now and he barely noticed as James helped him under the covers before dropping off to sleep.

* * *

The next few hours, maybe even days, were nothing but a blur to Sirius. His exhausted body and mind were taking the chance to get all the rest Sirius had missed out on from not only from his time in Azkaban but also the stress from fighting in the wizarding war before that. When Sirius wasn't sleeping, he had vague memories of eating light foods, choking down potions, and going to the loo. In between those times were spent sleeping and if Sirius dreamt of anything he couldn't remember.

When his body had finally gotten enough rest, Sirius seemed to go from a deep sleep to full awake-ness in a snap. He blinked gray eyes, yawning widely and rubbing at his face as his brain felt clearer than it had in such a long time. He felt alert yet lazy, feeling no need to rush anywhere as he knew he was safe with his chosen family.

When Sirius stood his knees nearly buckled out from under him, so unused to moving after so much time sleeping, causing him to stumble a bit. His stomach also made itself know by growling loudly demanding it be fed.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," Sirius murmured to himself as he as he scratched at the skin of his stomach under his top and headed out the room in the direction of the stairs and down to the ground floor. Sirius took his time really looking around, something he hadn't done after waking up the first time. Like everything else the living room and hallway were done in grays, whites and blacks. The furniture was twisted and misshapen looking, paintings on the walls were spooky and gothic yet in an almost comedic way. The only bright splashes of color Sirius saw were wizarding photos from their time at Hogwarts and when Harry was a baby.

In the middle of the living room Sirius found Harry sitting on a black and white rug playing a board game with a…a… well Sirius didn't have a clue what it was. It looked like an odd little creature with cloven hooves, horns and whip-like tail and covered in thick looking fur. It was rubbing its chin with clawed fingers before grinning widely with a mouth filled with too many sharp teeth and moved a piece on the board.

"Hey!" Harry said laughing as the thing captured one of his checker pieces. Sirius shook his head and headed into the kitchen where Lily was cleaning.

"Look who's decided to rejoin us," Lily said in greeting as she turned to look at him, hands grabbing a towel to dry off on.

"Hey Lils… umm… so what is that…" Sirius pointed into the living room with a confused look on his face.

"Oh, you mean Bob?" Lily asked as she reached into the oven to remove a plate of breakfast she saved for the man.

"Bob?" Sirius repeated with a raised eyebrow,

"It's what we call it, Jack told us its name once but it was impossible to pronounce. The only part we understood sounded like 'Bob' so that's what we call it," Lily explained as she set the plate in front of Sirius. "It's the family Boggart."

Sirius dropped the fork in surprise and looked up at Lily with wide eyes.

"A Boggart?" he said turning in his seat to look back into the living room. "Are you sure it's safe to be around Harry? That's what a Boggart really looks like?" Lily grinned and laughed softly.

"Remus asked the same thing. It's pretty tame, I think it scared James and Jack scared it back so now it behaves. It seems to adore Harry," Lily said as she sat down and looked Sirius over. "You're looking a bit better, not so much like a raccoon."

"How long have I been sleeping?" Sirius asked curious. "It feels like days."

"You've been up and down a few times but not as much as you're thinking," Lily said. Sirius nodded and scratched at his cheek, scowling as his fingers dug into his facial hair.

"Ugh… I need to get rid of this," he said then reached up to tug at his hair. "Get this cut too. I was thinking of cutting it short."

"You, with short hair? I never thought I see the day," Lily teased gently. "You were all so proud of having long hair."

"It was mostly to drive my Mum up the wall. And it got me plenty of dates," Sirius winked then sighed. "But I think now it's time for a change don't you."

"Yes, I can see that. But if you're asking me to cut it, you're asking the wrong person," Lily pointed out.

"Aww come on, Lily-flower, you're the best with charms," Sirius said giving her one of charming flirty smile. Lily just snorted and rolled her eyes but a small smile quirked at her lips.

"True but you know as well as I do that those sorts of charms only mimic the real thing and if a person can't cut straight with a pair of scissors then they can't do so with cutting charms and the Severing charm isn't recommended for a haircut," she reminded him. Sirius winced as he remembered Lily was horrible at cutting anything with a pair of scissors, it always came out choppy and in uneven lines. She did fine chopping up ingredients for potions or cooking with a knife but put a pair of scissors in her hands and it was a whole different story. The one and only times she cut Harry's hair as a baby his hair had looked even worse than it had to start with, after than it was agreed by all parties that James would be the one to cut Harry's hair.

Sirius wasn't going to let James anywhere near his hair; James would more than likely give Sirius a horrible haircut on purpose just to mess with Sirius.

"Remus then?" Sirius suggested thinking the werewolf might be the safer bet.

"Well… I think I might know something that can tame that mess," Lily said slowly as an idea formed. "I'll have to ask her. I can trust you to watch Harry for a few minutes can't I?"

"Of course!" Sirius exclaimed with mock outrage. Lily rolled her eyes upward and shook her head then Sirius turned to his breakfast, wolfing it down as he listened with half an ear as Lily told Harry than she would be back in a few minutes to get someone called 'Sally'. Picking up the mug of hot cocoa let on the table for him, Sirius carried the hot drink into the living room and sat down on the crooked yet comfy couch watching Harry and 'Bob' the Boggart start another round of checkers. Mr. Bitey was there too Sirius noticed as the living toy moved so he could both keep an eye on Sirius and watch his owner.

"Mr. Padfoot!" Harry said when he noticed his godfather sitting in the room.

"Morning, pup," Sirius greeted between sips of his hot chocolate, he still had lingering chills from his long term exposure to the Dementors which the chocolate helped chase away. "Or… afternoon? Anyway, your Mum asked me to watch you while she went to see someone."

"She said she's gonna get Aunt Sally," Harry agreed as he moved one of the red pucks on the board.

"So… just who is 'Aunt Sally'?" Sirius asked curious. Harry grinned again and turned to Sirius, giving Bob a chance to cackle and start switching around pieces until Mr. Bitey growled at it and made it put the pieces back where they had been. It grumbled softly under its breath in a rush of jumbled voices.

"She's really nice, she makes really good spider cookies and she's married to Uncle Jack," Harry said. "She made me some clothing after they said I got to stay here." Sirius hoped that 'spider cookies' were just cookies made to sorta look like spiders and not made out of, you know, _real_ spiders.

"She does sound nice, I can't wait to meet her," Sirius said instead of commenting out lout his thought on the cookies. "So how many games have you played with… Bob?"

"Lots!" Harry said looking back at the board, already fixed back to what it was under Mr. Bitey's watchful eye. "I won… ummm… 3 games? Bob wins a lot more but I'm getting better… I think."

"Why don't I help you," Sirius suggested as he slid onto the floor next to Harry. "I use to be very good at checkers and at wizarding chess."

"What's that?" Harry asked. Harry had something of a vague idea of what chess was, his uncle Vernon claimed it was something that well off people played while Aunt Petunia claimed that only smart people played the game. There actually a chess board and set that sat in the Dursley's living room, it was very old and had belonged to some family member that Aunt Petunia had been close too growing up. It was one of her few prized possession from her past that she proudly displayed for all to see, Harry had never been allowed to touch it and it was one of the few things Dudley would get in trouble for if he even _thought_ about touching a single piece of the set.

"It's the same as the way Muggles play but the pieces are charmed to move and talk on their own so it's a lot more entertaining," Sirius explained. "How about I teach you later? Right now, let's see about getting your score above Bob's huh?" He winked playfully making Harry laugh and move over a bit so Sirius could sit next to him and show him some neat tricks on the checker board.


	19. Chapter 19

**The Nightmare Before Hogwarts**

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. Corpse Bride is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. Beetlejuice is also property of Tim Burton. The Scooby-Doo series and related characters are the property of Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers.

Special guest appearance from Edward of Edward Scissorhands, property of Tim Burton (once again).

Author Note: Whew, 19 chapters, this one got up there quick!

This chapter is dedicated to my reviewer to suggested that Edward be the one who cut Sirius's hair, you put the idea in my head and it wouldn't let go! You didn't leave a name on the review but you know who you are.

As always, you guys rock and thanks for sticking with me between updates.

This chapter was betaed and edited by Werejaguar of Halloween Town and The Patient One.

Chapter 19

Thanks to his godfather's help, Harry won against Bob the Boggart in checkers, much to the boy's delight and the boggart's grumpiness. The trio then moved onto card games so that Sirius could join them. Sirius had never played 'Ol' Maid' before, but Harry had seen other children play it and had always wanted to play it himself. Sirius was more than happy to indulge his godson and Bob seemed content to play whatever.

The whole situation was still surreal to Sirius. Being out of Azkaban alone was odd enough, but add to that that he was in another dimension playing games with his godson and a docile Boggart in the home of his deceased best friends? He still had trouble thinking straight. Between that and the enjoyment of the game, it was no surprise that the wizard lost track of time, so he was a bit startled when the door opened, and Lily called out that she was back. Harry's face lit up with a bright smile.

"Mummy! Aunt Sally!" he said as he climbed to his feet to run to his mother. Harry slid to a stop as he reached them, and then hid behind his mother's legs as he noticed the third figure standing behind the two women, someone he had never seen before. "Who's that?" he whispered, eyes wide.

"Don't be afraid, sweetie," Lily said, picking up Harry and setting him on her hip.

"He's my friend," Sally added, motioning for the strange man to step forward. "This is Edward."

"…hello," Edward said softly, with his gaze mostly on the floor. Sirius had also gotten to his feet at this point and was looking at both of the unfamiliar people in amazement.

When Harry had told him that Sally was the wife of that Jack bloke, Sirius had assumed that she too would be a skeleton. Instead, Sally looked like a life-size rag doll with stitches all over her body and dress. She was charming nonetheless; her dark red hair reminded him of Lily in a way, and she radiated a kindness that Sirius didn't see in too many people. In fact, seeing her stand side-by-side with Lily, he could almost imagine the pair of them were sisters instead of that horse-faced twit that Lily had as a sister...

Edward, on the other hand… He was covered from neck to toe in shiny black leather and several belts and buckles. His long hair was wild and stuck out in all directions, such that James and Harry's naturally stubborn unkempt hair looked tame.

Sirius's eyes drifted down to Edward's face; his skin was pale, covered in tiny faded scars and his dark eyes stood out in contrast. He also had small bow-shaped lips, which all-in-all made for a pretty strange picture, yet somehow worked for the shy man. But looking at his hands, Sirius's eyes widened, and he took a step back. Leather encased Edward's hands just like the rest of him but instead of fingers… it looked like someone had torn apart a bunch of scissors and grafted the blades onto his digits.

"Merlin…" Sirius whispered. "Are those…real?"

"Yes," Edward said softly, self-consciously drawing his hands closer to his chest.

"Edward is a friend of mine," Sally explained, placing a gentle hand on Edward's arm to help ease him. "He's like me, built by a scientist...but his… Well…"

"Father fell down and never woke up," Edward said in that soft voice of his. "Peg said…"

Sirius's heart clenched; he couldn't help but feel for the young...man? He quickly got the message that the person who… _made_ Edward had long since passed away.

"I'm not finished," Edward held his hands up, showing that he meant his deadly looking fingers. Sirius suppressed a shiver as he got a better look at the sharp blades, wondering why whoever created Edward decided to give him hands like that. Then, shaking off his reservations, Sirius plastered a huge smile on his face. If he could survive his insane, dark family, befriend a werewolf in his first year of school, and not completely lose his sanity in Azkaban, then he could easily be friends with Edward.

"Hey there, Ed. Nice to meet you, I'm Sirius," Sirius said, almost going to offer a handshake before thinking better of the idea. Luckily, Edward didn't seem to notice the aborted move, or more likely he did but wasn't offended.

"Serious about what?" Edward asked, instantly curious. Sirius let out a bark of laughter, he couldn't tell if Edward was joking with him or if he was serious–pun not intended in this case–about the question.

"No, Sirius. Like the dog star," he explained.

"Oh," Edward's dark eyes lit up a bit. "The brightest star in the sky."

"Yep, that's the one!" Sirius agreed.

Harry watched them both with wide, curious eyes, and then wiggled to get down out of his mother's hold to the floor and walked up to Edward. He hadn't been afraid of Edward's looks, after hanging out with monsters and having ghosts for parents, not to mention his killer teddy bear, Edward just wasn't that scary looking to Harry. He was still just shy around new people.

"Hi!" Harry said, his face lit up with another bright smile. "My name is Harry."

"Hello." Edward had that little smile on his face again.

"Sirius, Lily said you needed a haircut," Sally broke in. "Edward gives the best haircuts, so he agreed to come."

Sirius blinked, then his gaze fell on Edward's hands again, and he grinned in understanding.

"Alright, Eddie, show me what you got!"

A few minutes later, Sirius was sitting in a chair in the middle of the kitchen. He had a towel wrapped around his shoulders and behind him stood Edward. Edward's hands gently turned Sirius's head this way and that, the blades just barely touching Sirius's skin. The metal was cold, and Sirius did his best to suppress the shiver that wanted to crawl up his spine, not wanting for Edward to assume that it was from fear instead of just being cold. Finally, after a few seconds, the hands drew away, and all was quiet and still then…

 _Snip… snip… snipsnipsnipsnipsnip_

Sirius's hair started wildly flying as Edward artfully cut the tangled strands. Harry gasped and clapped in delight, and even Lily found herself very impressed as Edward seemed to shape Sirius's locks from a messy tangle to something a lot more stylish with apparent ease.

Sally was smiling with her hands clasped together under her chin, watching how happy Edward was in his creative element and thinking back to how they found him. It was a few summers ago, during a lull in the plans for Halloween, that Jack had finally gotten the chance to show Sally the human world for the first time. They had met Edward in his dark, lonely hilltop mansion that stood overlooking a colorful neighborhood.

Sally felt an instant connection—a kinship—with Edward. They were after all constructs of brilliant inventors, though poor Edward's father had died before the man had completed his work. Jack had instantly and sincerely offered Edward a home in Halloween Town if he wished, but Edward had declined; as lonely as he was, he loved his old home, and he had a deep connection with the town below. He told them softly of the sweet woman Peg Boggs, who had shown him kindness as soon as she met him and had offered him a home with her family. Of how her family had accepted him, though at first things hadn't gone so well with their teenage daughter Kim whom Edward loved dearly and still did. He even told them of the people in the neighborhood—other humans just like the Boggs—that he had been something of friends with and how it had gone all wrong in the end, but Edward couldn't bring himself to leave the little town he lived above. (1)

Neither Jack or Sally pushed, though they still made it clear that the offer stood if the orphan creation changed his mind. Nonetheless, Sally made sure to visit her new friend often, so when Lily had come asking if she could cut Sirius's hair, Sally had immediately thought of Edward and his stories about how he would cut hair for dogs and later the ladies of the neighborhood. The young man had hesitated when Sally made her request but ultimately agreed to visit Halloween Town.

Soon Edward moved from Sirius's hair to his beard, the edge of the sharp blades ever so carefully removing much of the messy beard Sirius had grown while in prison. With one last snip of a stubborn stray hair, Edward grasped the towel and pulled it off Sirius with an artistic flourish. Sirius's gray eyes, which had closed sometime near the start of the haircut, blinked open and he reached up to touch his now much, much shorter hair.

"Well?" he asked, looking at the ladies and Harry.

"Wow! That's was so amazing!" Harry said, bouncing in excitement. "It's never that fun at the bar…bar…haircut place."

"You look like a new person, Sirius," Lily said as she picked up a hand mirror they brought down from upstairs and handed it to Sirius. "Take a look."

Sirius peered into the mirror and blinked owlishly—it did feel like he was looking at a whole new person! Oh, he could still tell it was him, but the much shorter hair made a huge difference. It was a little longer at the top than it was in the back, and the way it naturally curled gave it a messy but fun look. Hilariously enough, it still somehow managed to look neater than James's hair looked even on a good day. Sirius tried to remember the last time he had hair this short, and though he wasn't sure, he thought it had been before Hogwarts; he had let his hair grow out long while attending the magical boarding school. He also noticed that Edward hadn't wholly shaved off his beard as he had initially thought; he now sported a beard that was somewhat similar to the Van Dyke style of facial hair. (2)

All-in-all, Sirius thought he looked like a different enough person that he could pull off saying he was someone else on the off chance he ran into someone who knew him from before.

"Not bad, Ed," Sirius said as he rubbed his chin and jawline. "I almost look as suave as I did before."

"Put those pounds back on, and I'm sure you'll be just as 'suave,'" Lily said with amusement.

"Thank you," Edward said with a tiny but very pleased smile on his scarred face.

The calm atmosphere broke a moment later as the front door slammed open and James loudly announced his return:

"We're back, Lily! We upped the tricks on the Dursleys! I really think your sister is—who's that?" James came to a sudden stop in the doorway as he saw Sirius sitting at the table. The latter began laughing, and James' eyes widened as recognized the voice. "Sirius!?"

Remus, who had nearly slammed into James due to his sudden stop and almost dropped the bags he was carrying, as a result, paused in his muttered cursing and looked over James's shoulder.

"Wow, you look good, Padfoot. Get out of the way, James." He pushed past his friend into the kitchen. "Hi, Sally, did you cut Sirius's hair?"

"No, that would be Edward's work," Sally nodded to the dark corner that Edward had stepped back into at the appearance of Remus and James.

"Ah, sorry, didn't see you there," Remus said as he turned and looked at Edward. He didn't bat an eyelash at Edward's scissor hands; not only out of politeness but at this point that was hardly the strangest thing he'd seen in the town. After putting the bags down, he went to properly greet him.

"Bloody hell, are those knives on his hands?" Remus could hear James poorly whisper behind him.

"James, don't stare," Lily hissed back, followed by a soft smacking sound as she slapped her husband's arm. "…and they're scissors, not knives."

"Ignore him," Remus advised Edward with a roll of his eyes.

"I don't mind," Edward said. It was hardly the most horrible way that anyone reacted to him, and Monsters, he found, were kinder than most humans he had known.

Harry, who had by this point lost all his shyness, came up to Edward with green eyes shining in delight.

"That was so amazing!" He said, bouncing on his toes. "Can you cut my hair too? Aunt Petunia always takes me to a really mean person, it hurts when they cuts my hair cause they pull really hard, and Aunt Petunia always says they didn't cuts my hair right 'cause it doesn't look different."

"Sorry, kiddo, that's a bit of the ol' Potter family 'curse,'" James said with a laugh as he reached over and ruffled Harry's hair. "We all have hair like that—me, my dad, my uncle, and we all passed it on to you."

"I still say you let your hair grow out like that cause you think you look good," Sirius said, laughingly with a cheeky grin.

"Well, it certainly wasn't the hair that attracted me," Lily said in a playful, deadpan voice, making the others laugh; even Edward's lips quirked into a smile as he bent down towards Harry.

"I think you look fine," he said softly. "But anytime you wish, I will give you a really nice haircut, and I promise I won't pull on your hair."

"Ummm… okay!" Harry said, smiling widely. "Thank you, Edward," he added, hugging Edward's leg.

Edward smiled grew at the hug, he gently and very carefully placing his hand on Harry's head, and slowly stroked the soft wild locks.

Sally clasped her hands together happily as her friend was accepted by her new ones. She could easily picture the smile on her husband's face once she told him about her day. Sadly, he had an early meeting with the Mayor so she wouldn't see him until the afternoon, but he'd be just as happy at the news even if he would probably pout at having missed it in person.

* * *

Edward left not long after that, returning to his home in the human world, and once the clock hit 12, Sirius finally got a formal introduction to Jack and Sally. Nothing came as a surprise to Sirius; the meeting only confirmed in his mind what he already thought about them. The skeleton was an all right bloke with a wicked sense of style, and Sirius liked him immensely from the get-go. And he almost convinced himself that Sally was Lily's long-lost sister; the rag doll was a dragon's whole weight in gold better than Petunia, that was for sure! Speaking of the horse-face, Sirius wanted to corner James and find out just what exactly the undead wizard had been doing to her and her family after overhearing him mutter something about the Dursleys and Harry's comment about the barbers Harry used to visit. But he had little choice but to wait on that, as no one was going to discuss the Dursleys' haunting in front of Harry.

The next morning, Remus received word that Glenn wanted to see him, and he could only assume it had something to do with 'bonding' with his wolf so he could learn how to control himself when transformed and eventually transform at will. It was a painfully slow-going process; Remus had something of a mental block since a part of him—a large part—didn't want to go through with this...even if he had agreed. But Remus was wearing himself down bit by bit, reminding himself that he was doing it for Harry's safety, the safety for those around him, and for his health and sanity. Glenn was very vocal about the state of his werewolf form had been in; there was absolutely nothing good about how his other body looked, and if things had continued going down the path he was taking before Glenn had found him... Glenn didn't sugarcoat it: Remus would have ended up dying an early and excruciating death.

Glenn had him trying out, surprisingly enough, meditation techniques—the whole "centering and calming yourself to try to 'speak' to his inner wolf" routine. It was jarring at times and brought up some bad memories of full moons that had gone bad; he had plenty of those.

Sighing softly, Remus pulled on an old, thick, warm jumper and headed out the front door. He chuckled as Harry raced past him, running to meet his monster friends—Ethan the Corpse Child, Spike the Withered Winged Demon, and Ra the Mummy Boy—to play in the town's massive graveyard. (3) Luckily, Town Square wasn't too far a walk from the neighborhood where the Potters were staying, and Remus quickly found Glenn leaning by the fountain. Alongside him was another werewolf who wore pants that were torn at the knees and hem and a Hawaiian shirt that hung open, exposing the brown fur that covered his chest. He also had a pair of sunglasses perched on his snout.

"This him?" the new werewolf asked as he lowered his head slightly so he could look at Remus over his shades, yellow eyes not looking all that impressed.

"Yes," Glenn said as he turned to Remus. "Remus, this here is my brother, Chaney."

"Call me Wolfie," Wolfie said, holding out a clawed hand for Remus to shake, which he did. Then Wolfie pulled his sunglasses down so he could look Remus over them, carefully holding his shades between his claws. "So my brother says you got a bit of a 'furry problem.'"

Remus blinked then started laughing.

"Sorry," he apologized still grinning. "That's just what my two best friends always called… well 'my other half,' I guess you can say..."

Wolfie and Glenn snorted, exchanged glances, and then sighed heavily in disapproval while Wolfie pushed his sunglasses back up on his snout.

"That there is your first problem," he said in a serious tone. "You can't think like that... You and 'your other half' aren't two separate beings in the same body as if it's a timeshare in Miami. They're both you, and you're both of them."

"Well, it sure doesn't feel that way," Remus snapped bitterly, already aware that that was one of the roots of the problem. Immediately, he sighed, his shoulders sagging as if with the weight of the world.

"Sorry… It's just… Glenn has tried to explain that to me, but you must understand the way I grew up…"

He looked up at both older Wolves helplessly, and they both felt pity for the ongtime Lone Wolf.

"I was…bitten…very young… we didn't know any werewolves, so I was never around others, and my parents did all they could to protect me and tried to find a cure…but…I've always seen Moony as a different being. I've always seen him as a bloodthirsty monster that could have hurt or killed my parents and other people like my friends and classmates..."

Remus fiddled self-consciously with some of the fraying threads on his old jumper.

"I've tried different ways to 'merge,' but all that happens is that I remember some of the worse times I had when I was younger," Remus tiredly rubbed his face as he leaned back against the edge of the fountain.

A few seconds of silence fell while that sunk in.

"You ever consider therapy?" Wolfie asked.

"Therapy?" Remus repeated looking at the other two werewolves.

"You've got a lot more on your plate than I thought you did," Glenn said with a shrug. "You're keeping everything bottled up. It hasn't helped you before, and it ain't helping you any now. You need to talk it out, release all that pressure, or all that baggage is going to send you to that great big boneyard in the sky, Remus."

"I…I don't think this is something I can bring to a muggle therapist," Remus said slowly, a bit stunned by the suggestion. "And most mind healers won't treat werewolves."

"No, no," Wolfie huffed while shaking his head, "You're thinking of Witch or Wizard mind healers, and we know they won't do crap to help you. Werewolves are generally more accepted in other places," he offered up. "It ain't just Human or Wizarding docs, ya know? But in the meantime, we'll work with what we got. I'm in no hurry to get back to Transylvania; I need a long break from Drac…"

"I'm curious, what _is_ the real Count Dracula like?" Remus asked eagerly. He had read the book while he was at Hogwarts of course, but that was fiction and the DADA professors over the years had differing opinions about the most famous vampire ever. They ranged from him being the evilest thing to ever walk the Earth to him being nothing but a made-up character from Muggle books based off a barbarian Muggle.

"He's an idiot," Wolfie deadpanned, then shrugged. "Or at least he acts like one. Long time ago he used to be knee-deep in all kinds of evil, but he settled down after Sybella was born… Thank the moon she got Drac's smarts, though; Vanna Pira may be a hell of a hostess and fun at parties, but she's an air-headed broad. Anyway, though, Drac has gone pretty soft thanks to that daughter of his… but that doesn't mean he's suddenly a _good_ person. Though, he's just fine being holed up in his castle in Transylvania—that and those races of his."

"He's still doing those?" Glenn asked with a bark of laughter. Wolfie rolled his eyes then gave them a wolfish grin.

"Yeah, he's still obsessed with them."

"Races?" Remus asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Calls it the 'Monster Road Rally,' he got the idea from something called the 'Wacky Races,'" Wolfie explained tiredly. "The winner gets the Monster of the Year award and a grand prize. I'll admit, Drac comes up with some great prizes, but that means I gotta put up with the other monsters and their drama. I swear I'm thinking about retiring soon but haven't decided when yet."

"Would Dracula even let you retire?" Glenn asked.

"As if he could stop me," Wolfie said with a bark-like laugh.

Remus shook his head in amusement, he was both relieved and disappointed that Dracula didn't seem to be anything like from Bram Stoker's novel and it was debatable if he was anything like the various famous Hollywood films.

"Speaking of other monsters, where did the little furball run off too?" Glenn asked as he looked around.

"Furball?" Remus asked.

"Winnie," Wolfie said laughing again. "My pup, she heard some kids were playing in the graveyard and went to join them. She's a bit of a tomboy, likes to run with the guys, and she's always begging me to drive the Wolf Wagon."

"Dracula's just gotta wait a few years, and then he won't have to rely on you to be in the races," Glenn said with a wolfish smile.

"Hmm… Harry went to play in the graveyard with his friends, I wonder if they've bumped into each other yet..." Remus mused, rubbing his chin.

* * *

Harry laughed as he ducked around the gravestones, running away from Spike who was 'it' in their game of tag. He was finally comfortable enough with the town and its surroundings to venture further out with his monster friends, though he stayed far, far away from the lone tree with the tree house, which he knew was where those three mean kids lived. They reminded him a lot of Dudley, maybe even meaner in a lot of ways. Harry had seen them a few times around the town since their first and only meeting, but they had thankfully kept their distance from him.

Quick on his feet, Harry soon lost Spike in the maze of graves and tombs, and he leaned against the side of a mausoleum to catch his breath. Months of running away from his cousin Dudley and the group of boys that followed him had done wonders for Harry's speed. His new life had also given him a new perspective on friendship; having real friends of his own now, Harry saw that Dudley's 'friends' were just a bunch of bullies that followed the head bully in Dudley, not real friends. It was almost enough to make him pity his cousin.

 _Tik tik tik_

Harry held his breath and pressed close to the cold stone of the mausoleum, hiding in the shadows as he heard the tips of Spike's wings tap against the ground. They stopped, and Harry had the feeling Spike was looking around, looking for him, but Harry just hunched in on himself, which made himself smaller in his hiding spot. Soon Harry heard Spike mutter something too quiet for Harry to understand and walk away. A few minutes later, Harry grinned as he heard Ra and Spike yell as the demon child chased the mummy.

Harry slowly rose and peered around the edge of the tomb, watching Ra and Spike run around the graveyard. Waiting until Spike was far enough away and thoroughly distracted; Harry slowly came out of his hiding spot and headed toward others.

But as Harry passed one of the many overgrown patches of brown grass that grew in the graveyard, he stopped as he heard it rustle. The boy looked around back at the patch of tall grass, his tilting his head a bit.

"Hello?" He called, waiting to see if there was an answer. When he got none, Harry shrugged and turned to walk away, figuring it was either one of the town's black cats or maybe just a rat looking for food. When the grass rustled again, louder this time, Harry stopped and looked over his shoulder. He bit his lip thinking that sounded a little…too big…to be a cat or a rat. Glanced over to the other side of the graveyard, he could see Ra, Spike, and Ethan, so he knew it wasn't any of them. He immediately wondered if it was one of those Boogie kids and instantly thought about just turning and running away.

 _'No, Daddy said you gotta be brave and stand up to those bullies_ ,' Harry thought to himself. Lock, Shock, and Barrel kinda terrified him, but his Mummy and Daddy both said he wouldn't be able to always run away and that sometimes the best way to counter a bully was to stand up for himself. That way they wouldn't have as much power, or even any power at all over him! Gathering up his courage and swallowing hard past the fear lump in his throat, Harry stepped closer to the patch of grass.

"Wh-who's there? I-I know someone is in there!" He called loudly, catching his friends' attention.

"What-cha got there, Harry?" Ethan called out, but Harry ignored his friend and stepped closer to the tall patch of grass. He leaned down to peer inside, and that's when he saw them: a pair of bright yellow eyes. And then—

"Arroooo!"

Somebody slammed into him, knocking Harry flat onto his back as he screamed, the yell cut off short as the air left his lungs in a 'whoosh!' and his vision blurred for just a second. As he gasped for air and his vision cleared, he looked up at the body on top of his, and it was the last thing he expected. It was a girl, a very furry girl covered in light brown fur with a head full of red hair in messy curls, and a wide toothy grin that showed off little fangs as she looked back at him.

"Got ya!" she howled and laughed. "You're really good at hide-and-shriek!"

"I thought we were playing tag?" Harry could hear Ra ask. The wolf-girl didn't seem to hear him.

"I'm Winnie," she said as she got up and grabbed Harry's hand, pulling him to his feet. Harry noticed that her hands and feet—paws?—were a darker shade of brown than the rest of her fur and she wore a dark blue dress that was tattered at the edges with a lighter blue bow around her neck. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Ethan," the corpse boy said pointing at himself with his thumb.

"Ra," the mummy boy said next with a wave. Winnie tilted her head to the side narrowing her red eyes.

"Are you related to Tanis?" she asked. Ra looked at his friends and shrugged his shoulder.

"Don't know anyone called that," he said, his single eye blinked her in confusion.

"The name's Spike," Spike said as his tiny body swaying from side to side from where it hung between his enormous wings.

"Aroo, so what's your name, green eyes?" Winnie said as she leaned her arm on Harry's shoulder.

"Harry," Harry said, bewildered by the turn of events.

"Hey, wanna play tag with us?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah! And…you're it!" Winnie slapped her hand against Harry's back then ran off on all fours, the other three boys scattering in different directions. Harry stood there and blinked for a moment, wondering what just happened, then shook his head and took off to chase his friends. Harry soon forgot the suddenness of their meeting as Winnie fit in with the rest of them like she'd always been there.

* * *

(1) A lot like TNBC, the actual events in Edward Scissorhands take place in the past, after discussing it with my mom, she said she thinks it could take place in either the late 60's to early 70's, of which I agree with her. Taking in the account that the evens in TNBC took place sometime between the 50's to 60's, Edward meeting Sally and Jack happened a very few short years after his film during the 70's.

(2) I am completely on a Marvel/Avengers kick right now in fanfic reading, so I'm a little obsessed with Tony Stark and Stephen Strange's Van Dyke style beards from the films. Gary Oldman in the 5th Harry Potter film sorta had this style of beard also, so that gives a rough idea of where I'm going with this look.

(3) I got tired to referring to the other two monster kids as 'Withered Wing Demon' and the 'Mummy boy' so I just gave them names… not original names but better than nothing.


	20. Chapter 20

**The Nightmare Before Hogwarts**

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. Corpse Bride is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. Beetlejuice is also property of Tim Burton. The Scooby-Doo series and related characters are the property of Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers.

Author note: Sorry it's so late, I've had most of the chapter done just last part was a hang up but it's done now and good news everyone! The next chapter has been started already. Just been crazy the last couple of months, I had a family member pass away from cancer (please everyone get yourself checked if you can) and we're short two people at work. It bites but what can you do?

This chapter was betaed and edited by Werejaguar of Halloween Town and The Patient One.

Chapter 20

Vernon Dursley was not blind to what exactly went on in his own home. He would admit, if only to himself, that something strange was going on and he did not like it. However, he didn't want to say it was magic; that "freakishness" was something he wanted to forget completely.

There was still that blasted dripping sound from his and Petunia's washroom. He had finally gotten so annoyed with it and with all the plumbers—every single one—claiming that there was no drip that he had finally grabbed his toolbox from the shed to attempt to fix it himself. The key word being "attempted;" Vernon had no handyman skills whatsoever, that's what you pay people for, after all! So in his desperation to finally end that horrid dripping, he managed to rupture a pipe, damaging both the bath and the sink, and resulting in them calling back one of those dozen of plumbers to fix what Vernon had broken.

That had cost them quite a bit of money, money that had been saved specifically for Dudley's Christmas gifts, which caused his dear Petunia to get rather annoyed with him for causing the incident in the first place. On the bright side, the dripping sound had finally stopped and Vernon felt vindicated… for all of two days before the sound came back even louder than before. And Petunia had been very clear that he was not to attempt looking for that blasted leak again...

Everything else, Vernon could easily explain away, and for things he couldn't…well, he ignored them as if they didn't happen. It helped that he spent most of his week at the office, darling Petunia was at the house all day long while Dudders was in school most of the day, and the boy was gone from their lives. And, of course, the other ladies of the neighborhood dropped in for a bit of tea and gossip with his wife.

Vernon harrumphed loudly to himself, the sound echoing in his office, as he thought about how all this had started when the boy up and disappeared at the start of the month. He couldn't stand that freak boy anymore than he could his freak father, James Potter. He certainly didn't hold the fact that Petunia had magical relatives against her, he didn't when she first told him and he didn't now; a decent person like his poor wife really couldn't help who they were related to.

He remembered the night he met Potter and Petunia's sister Lily in the restaurant, how he was made fun of, and how he and Petunia had stormed out. Well…at least that was how he remembered it anyway. Vernon had been so glad that he didn't have anything to do with those people after his and Petunia's wedding back in 1977. That was, of course, until Petunia's nephew was dropped off on their doorstep in the early morning like a blasted milk delivery. Vernon hadn't wanted the boy in the house, even suggested they take the brat to the police station or an orphanage and wash their hands of the Potter spawn. But Petunia, bless her heart, insisted they had to keep him after reading the letter that that crackpot who called himself 'Dumbdoor' or was it 'Bumbleboor'...? Oh, some bloody rubbish like that, but nonetheless, the old crackpot had left it with the child. And really, his Petunia's heart was so big she simply couldn't throw out her sister's only child even if he was a freak. How Vernon loved his sweet flower.

At first, everything was fine, no strange 'magical' things happened around the house, just the Potter boy crying at all hours. Petunia even suggested that the boy might not have any magic, she had heard that sometimes a perfectly normal person could be born from the freaks, which was fine with Vernon. But that went out the window a few days later when the boy made a jar of food float to him. After that, Vernon and Petunia had spent four years trying to stamp the magic out of the boy and make him normal. Now he was gone, either running away or taken back by those other freaks, and Vernon frankly didn't care which as long as he didn't come back.

Now all that was left was the problem of… whatever was going on in his home. Vernon tapped his fingers against the wooden surface of his solid oak desk as he puzzled it out. He didn't like leaving Petunia by herself at home after she went through that strange episode, and he thought that being in the house by herself all day long might be part of the cause. After thinking about it for several minutes he smiled as an idea popped into his head, picking up the phone and dialing a number.

"Hello, Margie? How would you like to stay with us for the holidays?"

* * *

Harry let out a soft, melancholy sigh as he sat on top of Spiral Hill, knees drawn up to his chest and arms wrapped around his legs as he looked out over the graveyard and the dark forest beyond. His Mummy, Daddy, and uncles had started talking about decorating their house for Christmas, all four of them very excited for the upcoming holiday and wanting to make it the best they could for Harry to make up for the years they missed while Harry was living with his aunt and uncle.

It wasn't that Harry wasn't excited about Christmas; just like Halloween, the very idea of it filled the young boy with childish excitement. He loved seeing and listening to the carolers that stood on street corners when he went into town with Aunt Petunia. He loved seeing the Christmas tree and all the decorations that the Dursley's put up every year, loved listening to the specials on the telly as Dudley was forced to watch them by Aunt Petunia.

But while his parents and uncles rightfully suspected that Harry didn't have any good experiences with Christmastime, the truth was worse than they thought. Petunia and Vernon made it clear almost every day that they really didn't want Harry in their house, but kept him out of the 'goodness' of their hearts, and there was never a time of year that made that more obvious for Harry than Christmastime. He never got any real gifts, mostly pieces of trash if the Dursleys thought of him at all, while Dudley got mounds upon mounds of presents. Harry never got to enjoy Christmas dinner or sweets, spending the day stuffed in his cupboard and listening as his relatives loudly enjoyed themselves. And Dudley always made sure to tell him that Father Christmas would never visit or leave Harry any gifts because freaks didn't get gifts from Santa.

So Harry was a bit conflicted on how to feel about all of it. He knew that the dark memories of Christmases past were only memories; his parents and uncles would show him what a good Christmas was like and he'd never have a bad one again. But without any good memories of it, he couldn't help but think of the bad whenever the word 'Christmas' crossed his mind.

Lost in reflections as he was, he didn't realize he had company until Mr. Bitey, who sat ever loyally by Harry's side, gave a little rumbling growl, followed shortly by Jack's voice.

"Harry?" he asked, looking down at him with curiosity and concern clear in his eye sockets. "What are you doing out here by yourself? You know I saw your friends in the town square earlier, why aren't you playing with them?"

Harry gave a small shrug of his shoulders, his grip tightening around his legs and his gaze never wavering from the forest.

"Didn't feel like it," he mumbled.

Jack frowned; something was definitely the matter. He moved to sit down beside the young wizard, his long legs stretching out and hanging off the side of the peak.

"What's wrong?" Jack inquired, gently ruffling the boy's hair with a bony hand before resting it on his shoulder. Harry's silence continued for another moment or two before he spoke again.

"Mummy and Daddy were talking about Christmas," he said.

At those words, a grin stretched out over Jack's face; even now, Christmas still fascinated him. The holiday was just so different from Halloween, and although he had sworn upon his honor as Pumpkin King to never again meddle in Sandy—uhh…Santa's holiday nor any of the other holidays, the whole town still enjoyed the snow that would now grace their world thanks to Santa's magic every winter. Other monsters had their own fascination, but Jack was always the most dedicated; he would set up a small Christmas tree and hang a few stockings in his home. Sally indulged him in his habits, always getting him the most horrible gifts, and cheekily hanging mistletoe; that Christmas was also their anniversary was simply the topper on the tree. And hearing that the Potters would be celebrating it just as exuberantly made him even more excited.

"But that's wonderful!" Jack exclaimed. His excitement was fast to fade as Harry just slightly shrugged again. "But…you don't think so, now do you?"

"I… well… I do like Christmas, I mean… I never really got to do anything for Christmas. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon told me bad little freaks like me don't get to enjoy Christmas like normal people," Harry whispered softly. "But I love the songs and listening to the movies on the telly. And I always loved seeing the Christmas tree with all of Dudley's presents under it, but they didn't let me join them... I was always in my cupboard and… I don't think Santa would ever want to visit me." Harry said the last part in a whisper, the idea of Father Christmas was fascinating and magical to Harry, and to the tiny five-year-old it was heartbreaking that he may never get any gifts from the jolly old man.

"Nonsense! Why wouldn't Santa want to come visit you and leave you some splendid toys?" Jack exclaimed. He thought Harry was a perfectly wonderful little boy, and quite enjoyed the boy's company as well as the new friends he made with Harry's parents and uncles. The 'Sandy Claws' he knew would love Harry as well, he just knew it, and would leave all sort of wondrous toys for the tiny wizard.

"D-dudley said… He said Santa doesn't visit freaks like me," Harry stutteringly whispered, rubbing his nose against his sleeve with a sniffle.

Jack frowned, his already subterranean opinion of Harry's obnoxious relatives sinking even more and making him regret allowing James dibs on haunting his in-laws.

The Pumpkin King still held out hope that James would let him and the other citizens of Halloween Town do a little scaring of their own. Most everyone in town loved the Potters, having welcomed them with opened arms, and Harry fit right in with the other monster kids. And the more tidbits that circulated through the town's gossip circles of what sweet little Harry's former life was like, with an unfortunate majority being accurate, the more that they wanted a piece of the Dursleys as well…

"Well, I'll have you know that that just isn't true," Jack said, giving a reassuring tap to the boy's nose before gently tipping up Harry's chin with long bony fingers, and looking him straight in those green eyes. "Now, Harry, being a freak isn't a bad thing, but you certainly are not a freak in the way your cousin or anyone else called you. Besides, Sandy Claws wouldn't dream of skipping out on visiting you, he loves all good little children!"

"Really?" Harry asked, hopefully.

"Of course!" Jack said, a grin spreading across his face as he got a wonderful idea! "In fact, why don't you ask him yourself! We can pop over to Christmas Town and visit old Sandy Claws."

Harry's green eyes widen and he gasped.

"Can I really meet Santa?" he whispered, that was something he had dreamed of ever since Jack told him Santa was really real. Then he remembered something: his Mummy always told him he couldn't go anywhere without asking her or daddy first, for his safety.

"I need to ask Mummy first," he said shyly.

"Ah… yes… that's probably a good idea," Jack agreed, sheepishly grinning as he realized his mistake. There he went again, so eager to dive headfirst into a new idea. He didn't fancy upsetting Lily in any form; she was getting better with her abilities and to be frank, he would rather Oogie came back again than be on the receiving end of her voice as it screeched in anger.

"Well, let's go then!" Jack shot up, scooping Harry up, and setting the giggling boy on his rather broad shoulders without a hitch. He snagged Mr. Bitey and handed the stuffed toy to Harry before taking off down Spiral Hill, his own excited long-legged stride practically dashing them back to town with Harry laughing all the way.

* * *

"You want to take Harry where?" Lily asked after Jack made his request.

"Christmas Town," Jack repeated. "To meet Sandy Claws."

As soon as they returned to the Potter home, Jack and Harry had located the adults in Harry's life in a room that had been set up as a study. James, Lily, Remus, and Sirius had been pouring over ancient tomes and scrolls in an effort to discover what the dark spot of magic was that was centered on Harry's iconic scar. Remus had taken Harry into the other room to get a snack while Jack spoke to the other adults.

"Why?" James asked next. The very idea that holidays were real places put together by real individuals, be they monsters or something else, was something Lily and the three Marauders had quickly gotten used to, which wasn't too surprising since they now lived in Halloween Town. But to visit other holiday worlds? That Santa, the Easter Bunny, and who knew who else was real? It still boggled Lily's mind at times.

With a sigh, Jack recounted what Harry had told him in the graveyard. Sirius growled in anger as he was reminded the sort of people Harry lived with for a few short years, they were just as bad as his own parents!

"And if I know Sandy Claws as well as I do then I know he'd love to meet Harry," Jack concluded.

"Well…" Lily and James looked at each other, neither really wanted to send Harry anywhere outside of Halloween Town, even if it was with Jack. Nothing against the Pumpkin King, of course, but the two ghostly parents were just very protective over their only living child.

"I mean… it would make Harry happy, but…" Lily started saying.

"We don't want to send him off without someone with him," James finished. "For our own peace of mind."

"I'll go with them," Sirius quickly offered. He needed a break from all the books, reading over the dark spells and rituals within the tomes reminded him too much of his early childhood. Granted, he would push on if it meant helping his god-pup, but Merlin, it was taking a toll on his mind and soul to read some of it, and they were still no closer to finding what was attached to Harry. The books and scrolls they had didn't seem to have what they needed, but there were other books out there they could look into.

Sirius thought their best bet might be the Black family library in his childhood home of 12 Grimmauld Place, the very ancestral home of the Blacks located in the Borough of Islington. Sirius had always found it funny that as anti-muggle as the majority of his family was, the main home of the Blacks was located in a purely muggle neighborhood. Apparently, from how the family tale went, one of his ancestors fell in love with the house, which had reportedly been very beautiful back then, and had acquired it from the original muggle owners before slapping all sorts of spells on the house to make it both a proper wizarding home and to hide it from the other people that lived in the area.

Inside the house was the family library, an extensive collection of tomes and scrolls of the darkest of arts that would make even the snootiest Dark Pureblood families salivate like a starving jackal. Sirius had learned from Remus that his mother, Walburga Black, had kicked the bucket earlier in the year. Unless his grandfather Arcturus decided to move in or give the house to someone else, that would leave Grimmauld Place empty except for whatever House Elves were still there. Sirius doubted that either was the case; his grandfather had his own home and the old man wouldn't let any of the off branches take the house as long as the main branch still continued on in Sirius.

That was, of course, if Sirius was still heir of the Black name, and Sirius neither knew nor honestly cared; the only thing that could make him return to that house at this point was seeing whether the library could be of any help in their research.

But back on the subject at hand…

"Are you sure, Paddy?" James asked. Sirius had made leaps and bounds in his recovery in the short time since they busted him out of Azkaban thanks to a combination of Lily's healing potions, rest, being away from the Dementors, and being surrounded by his chosen family, but Sirius was still had a long way from fully recovered from all the abuse his body, mind, and soul had endured.

"Yeah," Sirius said with a nod. "I've been mostly cooped up in the house and need some fresh air. Plus, I'm curious to see what this 'Christmas Town' looks like so I'd be more than happy to go with the pup."

Lily sighed, shared a look with her husband, and then finally nodded her head in agreement.

"Alright. Yes, Jack, you can take Harry to see Father Christmas as long as Sirius goes too," she said. Jack grinned and clasped his bony hands together in excitement, his sockets seemingly gleaming with anticipation.

"Splendid!" he rejoiced.

"But!" Lily continued, holding up a finger in the air and giving both Jack and Sirius a very stern look. "You two better not let anything happen to my baby. And I want you both to wait until tomorrow, head out in the morning. If Harry is going to the North Pole, I want to make sure he has clothing warm enough to keep him from getting cold."

"Of course, of course," Jack agreed. "I will drop by in the morning then." He was eager to rush home to tell Sally of his upcoming adventure and to plan. Once Jack was gone, both of the Potters turned to look at Sirius.

"I mean it, Sirius, keep Harry safe," Lily said with James nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, Padfoot," he said. Sirius's lips quirked slightly but had a determined, serious look in his gray eyes.

"Hey, I let all three of you down once before. It'll never happen again," he swore and he meant it.

"Alright…" James said, believing his brother-by-choice. "Let's get through a few more of the books and then call it a day." A groan escaped Sirius, but he still sat and pulled the tome he had been reading before, trying to block out the gruesome details of the ritual on the page as he looked for clues on what was attached to the pup.

* * *

Harry was so excited about the upcoming visit to Santa that Lily and James had trouble in getting their son to sleep that night. Worried that Harry would be too tired and cranky to enjoy the rare experience, they finally resorted to giving Harry a warm glass of milk that was spiked with just the tiniest bit of children's sleeping draught, just enough to send the tiny wizard to sleep but not enough to make him groggy in the morning. Sirius was also excited about the trip, he had learned a bit about the muggle idea of Christmas, that Jesus fellow and Father Christmas, from both watching their muggle neighbors and talking to his muggleborn classmates once he started Hogwarts. Well, one of his housemates had been Jewish and had celebrated Hanukkah instead which was equally as fascinating to the pureblooded wizard, but that was neither here nor there.

The point was, Christmas was completely different from Yuletide, which was what most old wizarding families celebrated. Although Sirius knew Christmas had some roots in the much older holiday it was different, and most of his family hated it. Naturally, that alone made it so much more appealing to Sirius and he couldn't wait to see what a whole world dedicated to the holiday looked like.

The next morning, Harry was up and nearly bouncing in his seat as he devoured his pancakes his Mummy made. He was going to meet Santa! Not even Dudley could say that.

"You ready to meet Santa, Pup?" Sirius asked grinning just as widely as his godson. Harry eagerly nodded and bounced.

"Uh-huh," Harry said once he had swallowed down the mouthful of pancake. "I even drew him a picture." Harry eagerly held up the drawing he had made for Santa the night before, of Santa in his sleigh with bunch of reindeer, at least one with a big red nose that was meant to be Rudolph. Harry didn't think Santa got very many drawings and hoped he would like Harry's.

"That's great, Prongslet," Sirius said with a serious nod. "You really captured Santa's likeness."

"Do… do you think he'll like it?" Harry asked softly as he was hit with a bout of shyness.

"He'll love it," James said as he picked Harry up and held his son close. "Come on, Jack will be here soon and we need to get you all cleaned up and dressed. Mummy can put that in a nice envelope for you."

Harry turned and carefully handed the drawing over to Lily.

"Of course I will," she agreed, watching James carry Harry upstairs then shaking her head fondly. "I love seeing him so excited," she said as she grabbed a piece of parchment and transfigured it into a nice envelope decorated with little Christmas bells and holly around the border, tucking the drawing inside carefully then sealing it close.

"Yeah, all kids are excited to see Santa, aren't they?" Sirius asked. Remus snorted into his morning hot chocolate and gave Sirius a tired look.

"As if you aren't excited too," he said. "You're like a big kid waiting in line at the mall." Sirius's response was to stick his tongue out at Remus making the werewolf chuckle in amusement. At that time they heard a vehicle pull up outside followed soon after by a knock at the door.

"Hello? Is everyone up?" Jack asked as he poked his head through the open door. Lily leaned out the doorway and waved.

"Good morning, Jack," she greeted. "Harry will be down in a moment." There was rattling around in the kitchen as Sirius jumped up and started grabbing the things that Lily and James had put out for the trip.

"Uncle Jack!" Harry called as jumped down the stairs and ran over to the willowy skeleton, hugging one bony leg.

"Ready to see Sandy Claws?" Jack asked as he ruffled Harry's fluffy, messy hair.

"Uh-huh!" Harry said with eager, excited nodding. "Are we going now?"

"Of course, if you have everything," Jack said.

"We do," Sirius said as he joined them, holding a backpack with a change of warm clothing, snacks, a camera, and Mr. Bitey on top, his head sticking out of the hole.

"What about my picture for Santa?" Harry asked as he sat down and started pulling his shoes on.

"Don't worry, Pup, Lily put in it in the front," Sirius assured his godson while pointing at the pocket. Harry gave a little cheer then held out his hands.

"I wanna carry it," he said looking at the bag.

"Okay, Pup," Sirius said laughing as he had Harry turn around and carefully slip the straps over tiny, bony shoulders. Mr. Bitey gave a content rumble in Harry's ear making the boy giggle. "But if it's too heavy, let me know." Sirius said even as he cast a quick feather-light charm on the backpack. Lily and James joined them, Lily kneeling in front of Harry.

"Now be good for your uncle Jack and Sirius, Baby," Lily said as she ran her cold fingers through Harry's hair in an attempt to straighten the messy locks. "You listen to them."

"Yes, Mummy," Harry promised.

"Just have fun, Prongslet," James said laughing then whispered in Harry's ear. "And don't be afraid to get into a _little_ trouble." Lily, who heard him, gave a mock sound of outrage as she smacked James's arm who just chuckled and shrugged her off.

"Alright, Pup, let's go," Sirius said as he took Harry's hand leading his godson toward the door where Jack was waiting. Harry turned and waved to Remus with his free hand.

"Bye, Uncle Moony!" He called. Remus smiled from where he was leaning against the door frame into the kitchen and waved back.

"Have a good time, Harry," he called back. Harry and Sirius followed Jack outside where the two wizard's gasp.

"Is that a car?" Sirius asked.

"It's the Mayor-mobile," Jack said as he opened the passenger side door and waved a bony hand for the other two to enter. "The Mayor agreed to lend it to us for the day." Harry eagerly climbed in and sat in the middle, shrugging off the backpack and removing Mr. Bitey from the bag so he could sit in his owner's lap.

"It's very… spooky," Sirius said laughing as he got in behind Harry. He didn't think it held a candle to his beloved bike. Speaking of, he needed to see what happened to it. Did Hagrid still have his bike?

Jack just gave that old skeleton grin at the words, letting the door slam shut then leaping over the top to get into the driver's side. It was a _bit_ of a tight fit with Jack's long limbs but he made it work for him as he started the Mayor-mobile and drove it toward the city gate.

"Mornin' Guvnor," the Crow gate keeper cawed out as he opened the gate, the twisted black metal rising up on squeaky hinges. The top of the Mayor-mobile just barely cleared the sharp spikes at the bottom of the gate though the large black and white striped mega-phone attached to the top did rattle and gained a new dent as it smacked into one.

"So, not complaining or anything, but I'm curious to why we're taking a car," Sirius commented as they drove through the graveyard, past Oogie's old tree where the terror trio still lived in the tree house and toward the dark forest beyond with the towering black trees.

"I found the way to Christmas Town quite by accident, many many years ago," Jack explained as he drove around a sharp turn on the path by the pumpkin patch. "After our yearly Halloween celebration. I was a bit burnt out on the same thing year after year and I wanted something fresh but I didn't know what at the time. So I thought a walk through the Hinterlands would clear my skull." (1)

"Did it work?" Sirius asked.

"Ehhh…" Jack rocked his hand in a 'so-so' motion then sighed. "Not as I wished but when I came on the doors… well, you'll see." Jack grinned at his companions as they came up on the forest.

Sirius swallowed heavily as he gazed at the Hinterlands, the tall dark trees seeming to rise higher and higher as they came to the entrance. His mind flashed back to the Dark Forest that surrounded Hogwarts, filled with dark twisted trees and thick undergrowth hiding all manner of creatures both light and dark, and he couldn't help but wonder what he'd find inside.

As the Mayor-mobile crossed the treeline, the sunlight drastically lessened, and Sirius's vision went dark for a moment. Harry was much the same, rubbing at his eyes at the sudden change. When their vision adjusted to the forest's light, Harry gasped softly and looked around with awe while Sirius found he was both right… and wrong about what the forest would look like.

It was filled with twisted dark trees, all of them bare of any leaves which made them look almost dead. But there was no undergrowth, no other plant life at all not even a dead blade of grass. The ground was black and bare as if life was burned away from all of it. There was no living thing around them for miles and honestly, with the sunlight filtering through the treetops, it wasn't altogether that scary looking. Sirius, after a moment of thought, quickly changed his mind as he studied one of the larger trees that they passed, the limbs outstretched in all directions like bony fingers reaching out to grab you and large jagged holes in the trunk that looked like eyes and a mouth, during the day it almost looked silly but in the dark of the night, maybe a little fog covering the ground… yeah, that could scare someone.

"That one looks like Mr. Hang tree!" Harry said with a laugh as he pointed at the same tree Sirius was looking at.

"That it does!" Jack agreed with a glance. "It might be the Hangman's Tree relative."

There honestly wasn't too much more to see after that, it was just more dead trees and blackened ground which quickly lost its charm and the ability to hold Harry or Sirius's interest. Thankfully there was a copy of _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ inside the backpack, so Sirius read out loud _The Wizard and the Hopping Pot_ and _The Fountain of Fair Fortune_ to both Harry and an entertained Jack.

It had taken all night for Jack to walk these same woods those several years ago to find the special grove of trees, and while he had since learned the way, it was still much quicker thanks to the Mayor's automobile. Sirius was halfway through _Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump_ when the car came to a stop and Jack cheerfully announced,

"We've arrived!"

Harry and Sirius looked out in front of them toward the group of trees that Jack motioned to with a wave of his hand. Seven trees stood out from the rest of the forest, grouped together in a very close circle and standing straight unlike the twisted woods around them.

"Wow…" Harry whispered as he quickly followed Jack out of the driver's side of the door, Mr. Bitey clutched in one hand. Sirius climbed out the other door, absently slipping the book he had been reading back into the backpack that hung from his other hand, as he gazed at the trees.

"This is how we go to see Santa?" Sirius asked as he followed Jack, Harry running ahead of them into grouping of trees.

"Of course!" Jack said. "Each one contains a door that leads to a different holiday world, it's the fastest way to get to Christmas Town."

"Uncle Jack, Mr. Padfoot! This is so cool!" Harry said he stood in the middle of the grove slowly turning in a circle, even Sirius was awed and impressed as he joined his godson taking in the sight before him.

There were seven trees altogether, each adorned with a door shaped to represent their holiday. Sirius recognized most of them immediately; the Jack-O'-Lantern was obviously Halloween, the giant heart had to be Valentine's Day, and the one shaped like a four-leaf clover was St. Patrick's Day, a muggle holiday that the yanks across the pond started but was so much fun and pissed so many uppity purebloods off that Sirius loved it too. Then there was one that looked like a giant painted egg. Sirius knew had to do something with Easter, Lily and other Muggleborn and Half Blood housemates explained that for Muggles it had to do something with that Jesus bloke and something to do with a rabbit. What a rabbit had to do with anything, Sirius had no idea; he may not have shared his family's view of Muggles, but he had always thought that they had some strange ideas. Easter for him was simply the end of Holy Week and a week where they had a break in school.

The next two doors were even more confusing for Sirius. One resembled a turkey, for which he could only draw up some vague thoughts of the Americans in the United States and Canada having some sort of holiday with birds? The other was a giant firecracker, and that could be anything, they were used in a lot of different holidays. (2)

The seventh door, of course, was the real star of the show, it was a beautifully decorated door made up to look like a Christmas Tree. Beneath the door sat a couple of presents wrapped in bright paper and topped with bows.

"Pretty…" Harry said, his eyes glued onto the door.

"It certainly is," Jack agreed. "One we open this door, we'll be taken to Christmas Town. It's quite a trip."

"Let me get the pup dressed before we start doing that," Sirius said as he knelt down and opened the bag wide, pulling out the thick children's winter robes that Remus ever so helpfully went to the human world to buy for them: gloves, hat, and scarf all in Gryffindor colors. Harry obediently put the items on, marveling at how warm and soft the robes were; Dudley's old jumpers and jackets that he got in past winters were so threadbare that it was a wonder Harry never got frostbite.

Sirius grabbed Mr. Bitey, who growled and took a swipe at him, and stuffed him into the backpack; the two of them still didn't get along.

"You can stay there for now, you little menace," Sirius said with a smirk as he zipped the bag up to the toy's neck, Mr. Bitey growling at Sirius once again but unable to do more as he was trapped in the bag. Sirius slipped the straps of the bag over Harry's tiny, bony shoulders then stood, taking Harry's hand in his own.

"Lead on, bone-man," Sirius said cheerfully. Jack grinned, anticipating his return to Christmas Town and the other two reactions to it. He reached over and turned the ornament-shaped knob on the Christmas door, the shiny surface reflecting the sun as the door swung open on quiet hinges. Harry eagerly looked inside the tree…and then pouted a bit, looking up at Jack in confusion.

"There's nothing there?" he asked softly. Jack tapped Harry's nose gently.

"Just wait," he said with promise in his voice. Sirius wasn't immediately put off by the seemingly empty space, he knew of all of the magical ways to travel. He wondered if the tree was something like a vanishing cabinet.

"Do we just step in?" he asked Jack. The skeleton did not reply; a chill suddenly drifted through the door, little white snowflakes drifting along the breeze. Both humans gave a little shiver at the cold and Sirius quickly cast a warming charm on top of Harry's winter robes as well on himself. Jack just grinned very widely knowing what was coming next, remembering this part very well. The wind picked up and seem to wrap around the trio like a physical limb, plucking them off the ground and pulling them inside the tree.

Sirius went first, the wizard yelping in surprise, followed by Harry whom he grabbed and held close to his chest as they seemed to spiral down into the darkness surrounded by snow. Jack was the last to enter, and the Christmas Tree-shaped door slammed shut behind him. Harry shrieked with laughter, mingling with Jack's cackling laughs and Sirius yelps. They seem to spiral faster and faster, no end in sight and Sirius wondered if they would be stuck there forever when his vision was filled with a bright flash of light!

Sirius suddenly found himself sitting on top of a hill, the biting chill of the snow under him seeping into his robes. He felt a little dizzy after that trip and pressed one hand to his head; portkeys and the floo weren't half as disorienting.

"What was that!?" he asked.

"That was fun!" Harry said his little face flushed with excitement. "Can we do it again?"

"It was fun, wasn't it," Jack agreed, helping Sirius up with a surprisingly strong grip. "Harry, Sirius, welcome to Christmas Town!" Jack waved his hand toward the bright, bustling town below them. Sirius's breath caught in his throat while Harry whispered an awe-filled "wow…", his green eyes wide with childish wonder. It… was… beautiful…

The land all around them was covered in a thick blanket of snow and the moon above them washed the land in a silvery light. The houses in the town looked like gingerbread houses from this distance, covered in bright twinkling Christmas tree lights. A gargantuan Christmas tree stood in the center of the town, bigger than any Sirius had seen at Hogwarts during his school years. Harry's eyes were drawn to the carousel, wanting so badly to ride it. They could see all sorts of little figures running around the busy town, no doubt Elves getting ready for their upcoming holiday.

And there, in the little of all the hustle and bustle, stood a large figure dressed all in red with a long, fluffy white beard, cheeks a cherry-red and a warm booming laugh of "Ho-Ho-Ho!"

"Santa…" Harry whispered in awe.

* * *

(1) Far as I can remember the woods called this during the film but are in the various games.

(2) I realized while checking on which doors are in the trees, they're all US holidays, at least one has got to be confusing to Sirius as Thanksgiving isn't a holiday he would have celebrated in the wizarding or muggle world.


	21. Chapter 21

**The Nightmare Before Hogwarts**

By: USA Tiger

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J. K. Rowling. _The Nightmare Before Christmas_ is the property of Touchstone/Disney and Tim Burton. Corpse Bride is also the property of Tim Burton and Warner Bros. Pictures. Beetlejuice is also property of Tim Burton. The Scooby-Doo series and related characters are the property of Hanna-Barbera and Warner Brothers.

Author note: So I decided to go more than just what version of Santa we get in TNBC, one of my favorite Christmas films is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Rankin/Bass Productions' who also did Santa Claus is Comin' to Town so I borrowed a bit from both those films cause I love Santa from those films and from Disney the Santa Clause for the Elves cause those are my favorite version of Santa's Elves and I adore Bernard the Head Elf.

This is a chapter I've been waiting to do since I started this fic and I'm happy to have finally gotten to it at last.

Love all my readers, enjoy!

This chapter was betaed and edited by The Patient One.

Chapter 21

Getting down to the town below took a bit of time; while they could have taken one of the sleds that was sitting atop the hill, Harry wanted to walk and see everything firsthand. Neither Jack nor Sirius could deny the boy's wishes, so they set off on foot toward Christmas Town. Popcorn strings and pine cones hung on every one of the snow-covered pine trees that they passed on their way, and though the simple decorations couldn't compare to those on the giant tree in the middle of the town, they emphasized the Christmas cheer just the same.

A mountain towered above the town, and looking on its side, Sirius could see a little green train chugging along merrily as it pulled its load over a candy cane bridge. And he was fully prepared to believe that the structure was genuine peppermint rather than a festive paint job.

"This place is so awesome," Sirius said with a grin. "I thought Hogwarts at Christmastime was something, but this…" Sirius waved his hands around them and shook his head. "There's no contest; this really is where it all came from."

"It's so pretty," Harry agreed, looking up in awe at a masterfully constructed snowman. Whoever built it had gone to a lot of effort: it wore a white long sleeve shirt, a green plaid waistcoat, a stringy black tie, and a bowler hat so dark green that it was almost black with a gold band around it and a little sprig of holly on the side. Moonlight twinkled merrily on its accessories, a silver pocket watch on one snowy arm and a green umbrella with a silver handle hung over the other.

"That's an interesting looking fellow," Sirius remarked as he noticed what Harry was looking at, taking particular notice of the snowy mustache and goatee and matching eyebrows. The pair of coal-black eyes that looked almost lucid completed the image; it seemed as though it could come alive at any moment.

"Well, hello there."

Of course, that didn't make Sirius or Harry any less surprised when it _did_ start to move and speak. Even Jack was taken somewhat aback; he remembered his few trips to Christmas Town in vivid detail, but he had never encountered a living snowperson before.

"Bloody hell!" Sirius exclaimed.

"You talk!" Harry gasped, green eyes wide with wonder.

"Indeed I do, young man," the snowman said in a pleasant tone as it—or maybe it was a 'him' Sirius corrected in his mind—leaned against his umbrella. "My name is Sam, Sam the Snowman."

"I'm Harry!" Harry introduced himself with a wide grin. "This is Mr. Padfoot and Uncle Jack."

"It's Sirius, actually, Padfoot is my nickname," Sirius added, his shock giving way to wonder. Jack just waved, a wide bony grin spread over his face at his newest discovery.

"Pleased to meet you, young man," Sam said kindly as he shook Harry's hand, making the boy giggle. "Welcome to the North Pole, we don't get many visitors around these parts, especially not from other holidays. Yes, I know who you are, Mr. Skellington, no one can forget about you."

"I'm not here to meddle or make another mess of Sandy Claws's holiday," Jack assured Sam.

"I didn't think you were," Sam said kindly. "So what brings you folk up to the North Pole?"

"Uncle Jack said I could see Santa," Harry said excitedly.

"Is that so?" Sam said. "Well, why don't I walk with you there? Mrs. Claus will be delighted to have visitors, and Santa should be back from the workshop by the time we get there." Sirius wondered just how Sam would 'walk' with them without any legs but soon got his answer as Sam did a little back-and-forth shuffle that moved him forward in the snow.

As they went, Sam took up the role of a tour guide, gesturing to various points of interest with his umbrella and sharing information on them.

"Over there is where the young reindeer bucks have their reindeer games to see who will one day help pull Santa's sleigh," Sam said as they passed a wide open area.

"So reindeer can really fly?" Harry asked in awe.

"Yes, my dear boy," Sam nodded. Then he paused and added, "Well, only some of them. There are a few that never learn how to leave the ground. And some fly better than others; why, Rudolph was a natural the first time he flew, took straight to the skies." Sam pointed up at the star-filled sky with his umbrella.

"Harry's a natural, too," Sirius said with a fond grin of remembrance. "I got him a little toy broom when he turned 1, and he took right off on it like a pro."

"Flying is fun," Harry said, giggling. He couldn't believe it, Rudolph was real too! It made his tiny heart burst with joy.

They neared the town in no time at all, it seemed, and the festivities were even more exuberant up close. Thick blankets of snow and multicolored strings of lights covered every house and wreaths hung from almost every door and window. The streetlamps looked to be made of candy cane and the streets were filled to the brim with people clothed in bright, festive clothes. At first, Harry thought they were children like him, but looking closer he could see that their ears were pointed and their cheeks sparkled as if they had glitter painted on them. These had to be the Elves that made the toys!

"Bloody hell…" Sirius whispered, his hand holding Harry's tight as they skirted outside the edge of the town with Sam and Jack. Outsiders visiting Christmas Town were rare, after all, and while Sirius and Harry would likely only get a few curious looks, Jack might cause a bit of a panic. Many of the Elves there remembered the time the big boss was taken and the wannabe Santa, a skinny skeleton dressed in red, for a few short hours took Santa's place. And while he had redeemed himself since, they didn't want to take any chances with Harry around.

"Right this way," Sam said, leading them up to a large house that overlooked the town; the only building bigger was the factory further up on the hill. He paused as they reached the front door. "This is where I'll leave you folks for now. But feel free to visit me again, I enjoyed our talk. I hope you have a good time with Mr. and Mrs. Claus, Harry. And Merry Christmas."

Sam patted Harry on the head then tipped his hat to Sirius and Jack before heading away. Harry waved goodbye then swallowed heavily as he turned back to the bright red door in front of them.

"Are you ready, pup?" Sirius asked when Harry didn't make a move toward the door.

"Uh… uh-huh," Harry nodded, his voice trembling a little bit. His little body was filled to the brim with so many emotions now he didn't know what to do! Sirius grinned and reached over, pressing the doorbell button, a few muffled notes of 'Jingle Bells' could be heard on the other side.

* * *

"Nice… nice… nice… naughty…" Kris Kringle, or as he was more famously known as Santa Claus, was sitting on the comfy couch in the cozy living room of the cottage he shared with his beloved Jessica, known as Mrs. Claus to the rest of the world, while she bustled around in the kitchen, no doubt cooking up a hearty meal for him to make sure he was good and fat for the season. Santa chuckled softly to himself; they had this playful argument every year but his wife always gotten him fattened up in time.

Christmas Eve was less than a month away and he had so much to do. He had to check all of these lists at least twice, make sure all the toys were prepared, that all the Elves were taking breaks when they needed to, check on the Reindeer… well, the list went on and on, really.

Santa looked up as the notes for 'jingle all the way' echoed through the cottage.

"Now, who could that be?" he said to himself as he put his scroll to the side and capped the pen he used for checking off his lists. Santa had a brief flashback to another wintry evening as he walked toward the door, when a certain trio of troublemakers had been waiting on the other side to kidnap him. He shook those memories from his mind and opened the door, eyes widening as he took in his visitors.

A small young child, a tall and skinny man, and behind them both…

"Jack Skellington," Santa said as he looked up at his fellow holiday figure in surprise. "What are you doing here?" He wasn't angry to see the Pumpkin King, no not at all. He had, after those incidents so many years ago, come to consider the other a friend. One he rarely saw, but a friend nonetheless.

"Who's at the door, Papa?" Jessica asked from the kitchen.

"A friend, Mama," Santa called back. "Jack, remember him?"

"That pumpkin fellow?" Jessica asked as she finally exited the kitchen drying her hands on her apron. She leveled a glare at her husband when she saw it wasn't just Jack. "Kris Kringle, you bring let that poor child in right now before they catch their death of cold out there!"

Santa glanced down at the child again, looking at him properly this time. The boy was looking up at him with the awe and childish wonder that he adored seeing in all children of all ages. It only took a few seconds for the special magic within him to place the child as one young Harry James Potter and Santa's eyes widened in surprise. But before he could say anything, Mrs. Claus lost her patience and pushed him to the side, cooing warmly.

"Come in, come in. Come warm yourself by the fire. Would you two like some hot cocoa? And I have some sugar cookies fresh from the oven." She bustled Sirius and Harry into the house leaving Santa with Jack. Santa looked after them, then returned his attention to the skeleton.

"Jack, while I'm happy to see you," Santa began as he closed the door behind Jack. "Why the visit and why is Harry Potter _here_?"

"It's a bit of a long story, Sandy," Jack said, spreading his long boney fingers in front of him. "But I have a good reason why I brought Sirius and Harry."

"Well, Mama will have their attention for a few minutes yet, so you have time to give me the cliff notes," Santa answered.

So Jack gave Father Christmas the run-down, explaining how Harry had ended up in Halloween Town, how Jack had gone to retrieve James and Lily from the Land of the Dead, and finally the conversation Jack had with Harry the day before on Spiral Hill.

Santa listened to Jack's tale, slowly stroking his snow-white beard as he took it all in. He had some knowledge of the Wizarding World, there were a few families that believed in him that allowed him to leave gifts every year for the young ones, and his Elves that went out into the wider world to keep an eye on children's wants and what the newest toys were told him and Jessica some of the more interesting things. So he knew a little of the 'Boy-who-lived' thing, but more importantly, Santa knew young Harry Potter as the young boy had been on his Nice list every year since he was born, unlike his cousin Dudley who so far had featured on his Naughty list and was well on his way to getting his name on the **_Permanent Naughty List_** if he didn't shape up.

"I see," he said as Jack wrapped up his tale. "This is most unusual, Jack, but I think you've made the right decision in bringing that young child here." Jack's face spread out in a bony grin, Santa chuckled softly with a 'ho ho ho' of his own.

"I knew you could help, Sandy," Jack said.

"Yes, yes," Santa agreed. "Come on, then, let's rescue the young lad from Mama before she stuffs him full." He entered the kitchen where Jessica had Harry and Sirius at the table with steaming cups so hot cocoa and a plate of sugar cookies in the shape of Christmas trees and snowmen. Harry had shed his wintry clothing and had a half-eaten cookie in one hand, staring at the grandmotherly Mrs. Claus in awe as she bustled around. Santa knew the moment Harry caught sight of him as the boy went very still, wide green eyes looking up at him. Santa smiled and knelt in front of Harry's chair.

"Hello, Harry," he said in the most gentle tone.

"Santa…" Harry gasped, he couldn't believe he was really meeting Santa, and he was saying 'hi' to him! Santa chuckled and gently took Harry's hand.

"I'm very pleased to meet you, young man," he said. "Why don't you and I go have a talk?"

"Really?" Harry asked as if he couldn't understand why Santa would want to talk to _him_. When Santa nodded his head, Harry abandoned his cookie on the table and followed Santa into the living room. Sitting down on his comfy couch, Santa pulled Harry to sit on his lap.

"Now, a certain skeleton told me that you didn't think I would leave you gifts for Christmas," Santa said. "Is there any reason why you thought that?"

Harry bit his bottom lip and wrung his hands in his lap.

"Cause I'm bad?" he said, the statement coming out as a question.

"Now, why would you say that?" Santa asked gently. "You, Harry Potter, are very far from bad."

"But… Dudley said…" Harry pressed his lips together for a few seconds before saying the rest in a rush. "Dudley said I'm a freak and that freaks were bad. And that you don't give gifts to freaks."

"Oh, Harry… you are not a freak," Santa said with a shake of his head. "You are one of the sweetest, kindest children out there. There is nothing about you that is a 'freak' as your cousin puts it."

"Then… how comes you never left me any gifts?" Harry asked. Dread filled Santa at those words.

"Harry, what you do mean?" he asked.

"You always leave Dudley gifts every year," Harry explained. "Dudley and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia says because I'm bad and a freak, which means no gifts for me." Kris Kringle closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly as Harry confirmed his fears.

"Harry, my child… those gifts were not meant for your cousin," he said softly. "They were for you."

"W-what? M-me?" Harry asked pointed at himself, eyes wide in surprise. Santa nodded his head, still looking very sad.

"Yes," he said. "I am so sorry, Harry, I've failed to bring you the joy you should have had every Christmas. Dudley was never meant to receive the gifts I brought to your former home, he has never been on the Nice list. You have always been, my sweet child, and I am so sorry those horrible people did this to you."

"Aww, Santa, don't cry!" Harry said, throwing his arms around Santa's neck. "It's not your fault." Santa's arms came up around Harry hugging the small boy back.

"Thank you, Harry," he said once Harry pulled back, a smile on the normally jolly old man's face once again. "You are a very kind little boy… what's wrong?" he asked when he saw the doubt still in Harry's green eyes.

Harry bit his lips before asking softly, "A-are you really sure?"

And Santa's heart broke all over again. Harry wanted to believe what his mummy, daddy, uncles and even Santa was saying, he really did. They all told him he was a nice little boy who wasn't a freak, that the Dursleys were the ones that were wrong. But Harry only had his good family back for a month now and he had spent four years with his aunt and uncle. He was healing from the abuse, but he still had a long way to go before the unkind words fully left him, if they ever did. Santa pondered for a moment how to put the boy's fears to rest, then smiled as an idea came to him.

"Harry, I would like to show you something," he said, gently placing Harry back on his feet before pulling himself off the couch. He took Harry's hand again and guided the young wizard over to one of the book cases on the other side of the room. With a wink in Harry's direction, he pulled a few of the books off one of the shelves revealing a hidden keyhole. Santa reached into his pocket and took out a silvery white old fashioned key with a beautiful snowflake at the bow, inserting it into the keyhole and giving it a turn. Harry gasped as the bookcase swing inward and exposed a staircase behind it with lanterns on the walls giving off light.

"This is a very special place," Santa said as he took Harry's hand once again and lead Harry down the stairs.

The staircase was short and twisted downward, opening up into a large basement room with shelves upon shelves filled with scrolls.

"Where are we, Santa?" Harry asked with a little gasp as he looked around with pure childlike wonder.

"Every year, Harry, I make a list of all the children of the world. On that list I check who is naughty and who is nice," Santa explained as they walked down the rows of shelves. "In fact, I always make sure to check it twice." Harry gasped softly and bounced with childish excitement.

"Like that song!" He said.

"The very same," Santa agreed with a nod of his head. "After I deliver toys on Christmas Eve, I save each list, sorting it down here. Now where is… ah, here we go." Santa and Harry stopped in front of a case of shelves that was only partly filled with scrolls. Reaching up, Santa murmured to himself as read the tags on the ribbons wrapped around each one. "1977… 1978… hmm… there we are."

Santa took three of the scrolls from the shelf, opening one for Harry to see.

"These are the scrolls for the last three years, my boy," he said, "See how it says nice and naughty at the top?" He pointed at the top of the scroll where the words were written and the rows of boxes under it.

"Uh-huh," Harry nodded his head.

"Good… now if we just go down a bit…" the jolly old man quickly moved down the many names on the scroll until he found the one he was looking for and showed Harry. Harry tilted his head to the side, sounding the name out then gasped again.

"That's Dudley's name!" he said as he looked up at Santa.

"Indeed it is," Santa said with a warm chuckle. "Now look at the boxes next to his name, which one is checked?" Harry looked back at the scroll and saw that the box furthest away from Dudley's name, under the word 'Naughty,' had a check mark.

"The naughty one!" he said. Santa nodded then moved down the list again until he found another name, showing it to Harry once again. "That's my name! Oh… the nice box is marked."

"Yes, you were a very good boy that year, Harry," Santa agreed a twinkle in his eye. He repeated the same with the other two scrolls, showing Harry that Dudley was under the naughty list while Harry's was under the nice. "You see Harry, you are a very good child while your cousin is not. And it's the same this year as well."

"Wow…" Harry said in wonder, seeing psychical proof that Santa thought he was a good child helped him a lot. "Thank you, Santa."

"Of course, Harry," Santa chuckled with a 'ho ho ho'. "Now… how would you like to see the workshop?"

* * *

"He seems a lot happier," Sirius said as he leaned against the railing, looking down into the lower floor of the toy workshop. He was watching Harry as his little godson was getting a tour of the shop by the head Elf, Bernard. Jack was right there with them, and if the seven foot skeleton bothered the Elf by looking over his shoulder and asking questions, the latter didn't let it show.

"I only showed him the truth," Santa said. "He has been on my Nice list every year. You, on the other hand, Sirius Black, managed to make the Naughty list quite a few times growing up."

"Well, considering my parents wouldn't have let me have anything you left, it really doesn't matter," Sirius pointed out then shrugged his shoulders. Santa gave a concessional nod of his head; he didn't agree that that was a valid excuse to be naughty, but it was the reason why he could only rarely deliver to Wizarding families.

"You weren't the worst child on that list," he said.

"I bet James was right there with me some years," Sirius said with a laugh.

"At times, you two certainly caused plenty of trouble together," Santa agreed. Sirius smiled slightly, remembering the good times, and the bad.

He watched Harry standing on a stool, the nightmarish Mr. Bitey held tightly in his arms, as he watched an Elf put together a toy train. A few of the Elves glanced over at Mr. Bitey with nervous glances but kids today had such strange tastes in toys that most of Santa's helpers didn't even give the toy a second glance. Sirius took out the camera and snapped a few pictures of Harry and the pure joy on his face. Santa didn't stop him as nobody would believe that the photos really came from the real North Pole workshop. It certainly warmed the old man's heart to see Harry happy and carefree as he followed Bernard around the workshop, like a child should be.

"Do you even make toys for wizarding families?" Sirius asked out of curiosity. "I mean, I never heard of you until I got to Hogwarts."

"Some, mostly those with close ties to non-magical families," Santa answered.

"Muggles, you mean," Sirius commented.

"Muggle, no-maj, can't-spells, these are all just names," the older man chuckled. "But for you, yes, I mean muggle families. Brooms are a pretty popular wish from children." A grin crackled over Sirius's face, his gray eyes seemingly looking out in the distance as he fondly remembered Harry's first birthday.

"Harry loves flying, I got him this little children's broom when he turned one. He looked so cute on it," he said fondly. "Zipped around everywhere on it, natural he was. Bet he still is in fact. Just like his dad."

"Flying, hmm?" Santa stroked his snowy white beard then smiled widely. "He would like to meet the reindeer, then." He turned and headed for the stairs leading down to the lower floor.

"Reindeer?" Sirius asked. He hadn't managed to parse exactly what Sam the snowman meant about flying reindeer; he was no expert on magical creatures, but he was reasonably certain that reindeer were not normally capable of flight. He made a mental note to ask Lily more about Christmas stories when he got back, as it seemed likely that more were true than not. He then realized Santa had left him and hurried to catch up with Ol' Saint Nick.

"Harry, my child, are you enjoying yourself?" Santa asked as he approached the small boy and Jack. Harry turned up to Santa, grinning widely.

"Yes! The toys are so neat!" He said. "I hope everyone likes them."

"I believe they will," Santa assured Harry, kneeling down on one knee to be eye level with Harry, wrapping an arm around the boy. "Now… how would you like to meet the reindeer?" Harry's green eyes widened and sparkled.

"Really? Do they really fly?" Harry asked in an excited rush. "Like Mr. Sam said?"

"That they do my child," Santa said laughing. "That they do."

"Doctor Finkelstein made his own reindeer that flew, skeletal ones," Jack said in fond remembrance. Oh, how flying across the night sky been such a rush. Santa coughed then cleared his throat as he stood.

"Well… yes. But that was a bit different and maybe a story you can tell Harry at a much later time," Santa said.

"Wait, you mean back when… okay never mind," Sirius started to ask then quickly dropped it at the dark look that quickly crossed Santa's face. Harry looked confused, having no idea what they were talking about, but took Santa's hand when it was offered. At the door they stopped long enough to put Harry's winter clothing back on, and Santa took the opportunity to nod at Bernard. The elf returned the nod and exited a side door.

With Harry bundled up once more, the group stepped back out into the cold, and Santa led the group around the outside of the workshop to a large fenced-in field where Harry, Sirius and Jack could see reindeer of all ages standing around, grazing, or playing.

"You have a lot of reindeer!" Harry said as he climbed the fence, Mr. Bitey tucked tight to his chest with one arm.

"It's not always the reindeer in the poem or song that pull my sleigh," Santa explained, smiling as some of the younger reindeer came over curious. A few of the braver ones started sniffing Harry's hair and at Mr. Bitey, one even being bold enough to try to nibble at a stitched ear until Mr. Bitey growled at it, making the reindeer skitter back.

"Be nice, Mr. Bitey," Harry scolded his stuffed bear, then hugged him, making the toy rumble in content.

"Here we go," Santa said, opening the gate so they could enter, the reindeer surrounding them.

"Wow, only deer I've ever seen is Prongs," Sirius said as he took photos of Harry petting the reindeer that stiffed him. "Even some of the racks are more impressive than James's."

"They're very friendly," Jack said with a grin; while many avoided him, many more were brave enough to examine the Pumpkin King.

"They can be," Santa agreed with a chuckle as he cut up a few apples that an Elf brought, then showed Harry how to hold it so the reindeer could eat from his hand. Harry giggled as they nibbled the fruits from his palm.

"Is that a donkey?" Sirius asked in disbelief as the gray beast joined them.

"That's just Dominick," Santa said as he patted the donkey fondly. "He pulls my sleigh in Italy. He loves children." Dominick brayed in agreement and nudged the giggling Harry, who reached up and patted the donkey's soft nose.

A hush fell over the herd and many of the reindeer stepped to the side forming a path.

"Merlin's beard," Sirius said softly as Bernard stepped forward, leading an older-looking reindeer with a grand rack of antlers. A saddle was strapped to the reindeer's back and several bells attached all over jingled merrily with each step. Harry looked up at the reindeer as it stopped in front of him, gave a little snort then leaned down to press its snout into Harry's hands. As it did, the reindeer's nose started to glow red.

"Rudolph," Harry said in awe, wrapping his arms around the most famous reindeer of all. Sirius swiftly snapped several photos of Harry hugging the reindeer as Rudolph nuzzled him back, Mr. Bitey trapped between Harry's arm and Rudolph's head. Jack grinned as he was reminded of that one night he tried to deliver gifts and how Zero's nose shone so brightly that it cut through the fog just like the reindeer's did.

"So, how would you like to ride on Rudolph's back?" Bernard asked as he knelt down next to Harry.

"Can I?" Harry asked, green eyes wide in childish wonder, turning to look up at Santa.

"Ho ho ho, of course you can, my child," Santa said. Mr. Bitey was passed over to Bernard, with a 'Be good' from Harry, the Head Elf didn't even look fazed as he held the Frankenstein of a teddy bear. Once his beloved toy was secured, Harry was lifted up onto the saddle on Rudolph's back. Sirius grinned and held the camera up.

"Give the camera a big smile, pup!" he said, snapping a photo. "Lily is going to kill me," he added with a laugh under his breath then stepped forward. "At least let me add a sticking charm so I can tell Lily I did something to keep Harry from falling off."

Sirius didn't have a wand yet, but he was still one of the brightest wizards of his generation; he could manage a simple sticking charm without a wand.

 _"Epoximise,"_ he uttered, placing a hand on the saddle. Then he tried to lift Harry up and grinned as Harry stuck fast to the seat. "There, now you won't fall off, pup."

"I can understand your caution, but Rudolph is one of the best flyers I have, Harry will be safe," Santa assured Sirius, patting Rudolph's neck fondly.

"Yeah, maybe, but I'd rather not be killed by a certain redhead if I didn't make doubly sure my godpup stays safe," Sirius said, ruffling Harry's hair. Harry was grinning in excitement, the reigns held tightly in his hands.

"Are you ready, my child?" Santa asked Harry.

"Yes, Santa!" Harry said with childish glee.

"Take it away, Rudolph!" Santa told the reindeer. Rudolph snorted in agreement then took off at a slow trot across the snowy grounds. Soon enough, he broke into a full-out run and started to lift in the air.

"Bloody hell…" Sirius whispered in amazement. "He really can fly."

Rudolph galloped across the night sky, his glowing red nose guiding the way while Harry shrieked with joyful laughter. Sirius lifted the camera, taking several pictures of Harry and Rudolph together. Jack yelled encouragements to the young wizard and Santa laughed, filled with joy from Harry's laughter. Several of the other reindeer in the area took to the air as well, following after Rudolph and Harry, some of the younger ones breaking away to dip and dive around them.

Soon Rudolph decided to show the young bucks up, going into a sharp dive toward the ground, his legs pumping as if he was going at a full gallop. Many of the bucks made a grunting, almost honking like sound and dove after the elder reindeer. Harry let out a shout, one of pure laughter, as the wind rushed around them.

"Merlin's beard!" Sirius as Rudolph pulled up at the last second, inches from hitting the ground, and flew only a few feet above the snow. Many of the younger reindeer were able to pull out of the dive, though one or two tumbled into the thick snow banks, but weren't able to keep up with Rudolph who honked in victory. "That's a hell of a feint like right out of a Quidditch game—bloody hell!" Sirius, Santa, and Barnard ducked as Rudolph flew right over their heads. Jack wasn't able to duck in time and his head was caught by one of Rudolph's back hooves knocking the skull right off Jack's bony form.

The Pumpkin King let out a surprised yelp as his head flew through the air and landed in a pile of snow while his body staggered off balance for a few seconds.

"Rudolph, you hit Uncle Jack!" Harry said as he tapped Rudolph on the side of his neck. "We gotta go back!" Rudolph grunted and turned in midair, going back the way they came. The famous Christmas figure slowed down and landed gently on the ground with a soft jingle of bells. Harry, wanting to hurry to rescue Jack, ended up using a burst of accidental magic to overpower and cancel out Sirius's sticking spell, allowing the young wizard to slide off the saddle to the snowy ground. "Uncle Jack! Are you okay? Where are you?"

Harry ran over to the snowbank and started digging in the snow calling Jack's name until he found the round white skull of his friend. He wrapped his mittened hands around Jack's head and pulled it out of the snow.

"Uncle Jack?" Harry asked holding the skull up, a small pile of snow on top.

"Ha haa! What a rush!" Jack cackled, his skull adorned with a wide bony grin.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked as he brushed the snow away.

"I'm fine, Harry, didn't even hurt," Jack assured the young wizard. "Give me a quick check, any new cracks?" Harry turned Jack's skull around in his hands then shook his head when the eye sockets were facing him again.

"I don't see any," he said.

"Pity… would have made me look dashing," Jack said with a bit of a pout. "Oh well. Ah, here we go." A shadow fell over Harry and bony hands reached down to pluck the skull out of Harry's grip. He tilted his head back and watched as Jack's body placed his skull back onto his neck bone. Sirius and Santa came up behind them as Bernard led Rudolph a bit away.

"Harry? Are you okay, pup?" Sirius asked as he fell to his knees in the snow and pulled Harry to him checking for any possible injuries.

"I'm okay," Harry said, melting into Sirius as the man hugged him.

"Whew, that got a little crazy there," he said. "You looked like you were having fun, though."

"Uh huh! It was lots of fun. Rudolph flies really fast!" Harry said, bouncing in excitement.

"I am so sorry, Jack," Santa apologized to Jack. Jack waved him off laughing.

"Nonsense! No harm done at all!" Jack said. Sirius picked up Harry and sat him on his hip, turning to face the others.

"Okay, I think we've had enough excitement and playing in the snow for the day," he said, shivering as the cold wind blew past him cutting through the warming charm on his robes. For all the cheer surrounding them, it reminded him too much of those endless cold days at Azkaban. Harry pouted just a bit but didn't complain, he had had a lot of fun but now he was starting to feel tired. He looked over at Rudolph.

"Thank you for the ride, Rudolph." The reindeer nodded his head with a warm smile, making the bells hanging off him jingle.

"Don't forget your little friend here," Bernard said as he handed Mr. Bitey back to Harry. Harry grinned as he took his beloved toy and held it close.

"Well now, we should say our goodbyes to Mama and get your things," Santa said as he patted Rudolph on the neck fondly.

Back at the house, Jessica bustled about and handed all of them bags full of cookies, even making little skull shaped sugar cookies for Jack.

"Now you be careful, dears," she said as she adjusted Harry's scarf around his neck. "And make sure to keep the little one warm on your way back."

"Thank you, Santa," Harry said as he hugged St. Nick around the neck as the jolly old man leaned down. Santa smiled and gave Harry a hug back.

"Now you continue to be a good boy," he said. "I'll bring your presents on Christmas Eve."

"Okay, I'll make sure milk and cookies are out!" Harry promised then waved as Sirius picked Harry up again. "Bye, Mrs. Claus!"

"Goodbye, dear, thank you for visiting," Jessica said standing in the doorway with Santa, watching the trio walk off. "What a kind, sweet boy he was."

"That he is, Mama, that he is," Santa agreed.

"Well, I should go finish dinner," Jessica said. "We want to make sure you're a nice fat Santa this year." She smiled as she heard her husband chuckle as she walked back to the kitchen.

As she rounded the corner, Santa turned back to watch Harry, Sirius, and Jack walk out of his line of sight, heading back to Halloween Town. He was happy that he was able to ease that sweet boy's fears, but sad that he had missed that Harry had never gotten his gifts. Sadly, with as many children in the world as there were and how little he left the North Pole, there would always be a few incidents that even he overlooked, and they never failed to break his heart.

Still… there was one more thing he could do.

"Bernard," he said, turning to his Head Elf.

"Yes, Santa?" the tall Elf asked as he came closer.

"Contact… _him_ ," Santa said in a dark, serious tone. Bernard started a bit and his back stiffened.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "It's that serious?"

"Yes…" Santa said looking out over the snowy landscape again. "This punishment calls for something far more drastic than coal in their stockings."

* * *

Lily smiled as she flipped through the photos Sirius had taken in Christmas Town, carefully placing each one in an album. The joy and warmth of the pictures and the look of pure joy on her baby's face filled up Lily's unbeating heart.

Jack and Sirius had arrived back in the Mayor-mobile at the very late evening, Sirius carrying in Harry who had fallen asleep on the way back. Sirius assured Lily and James that Harry had a ball at the North Pole and that Santa had been a really nice, jolly old bloke. He handed the wizarding camera right over to her as James took Harry to put him to bed.

Father Christmas was just how Lily had always imagined the man to look as a child and his wife Mrs. Claus looked like a kindly old grandmother. James had insisted the Elves would look like House Elves when she first explained the story of Santa Claus to her house mates so many years ago, but instead they were almost identical to human children.

Lily placed the last photo, one of Harry sitting on Santa's lap, on the last page of the album across from a photo of Harry on what could only be Rudolph due to the glowing red nose. Harry's green eyes were lit up in the photo and a childish smile of happiness was stretched across his face. Lily smiled and smoothed the photo out before closing the book.


End file.
